AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $5.38.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of AXTI opened at $3.44 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.37. AXT has a 52 week low of $1.89 and a 52 week high of $5.64. The company has a market capitalization of $152.74 million, a PE ratio of -8.60 and a beta of 2.29.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $22.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.00 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 21.01% and a negative return on equity of 7.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that AXT will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AXT during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in AXT by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in AXT during the 1st quarter valued at $52,000. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in AXT during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in AXT during the 1st quarter valued at $77,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AXT

AXT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates. The company offers indium phosphide for use in data center connectivity using light/lasers, high-speed data transfer in data centers, 5G communications, fiber optic lasers and detectors, consumer devices, passive optical networks, silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, thermo-photovoltaics, RF amplifier and switching, infrared light-emitting diode (LEDS) motion control, lidar for robotics and autonomous vehicles, and infrared thermal imaging.