AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Lifted 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.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their price target on AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AXT has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $5.38.

AXT Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI opened at $3.78 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.45 and a beta of 2.28. AXT has a 12-month low of $1.89 and a 12-month high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $22.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.00 million. AXT had a negative return on equity of 7.36% and a negative net margin of 21.01%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AXT will post -0.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. lifted its position in AXT by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 3,306,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,936,000 after purchasing an additional 779,548 shares in the last quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of AXT by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,232,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after buying an additional 21,973 shares in the last quarter. White Pine Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AXT by 35.9% during the 4th quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 612,630 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 161,893 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in AXT by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 465,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after acquiring an additional 149,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in AXT by 127.3% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 377,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $906,000 after acquiring an additional 211,351 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.