AXT Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AXTI)

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 15,725 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 92% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,190 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AXT to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on AXT in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. UBS Group set a $35.00 price objective on AXT in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut AXT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 37,905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.13, for a total value of $1,938,082.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,275,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,337,520.64. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jesse Chen sold 8,083 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total transaction of $406,170.75. Following the transaction, the director owned 109,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,503,681.50. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 502,278 shares of company stock worth $21,196,754. Corporate insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,939,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in AXT by 173.7% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 35,201 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 22,338 shares in the last quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in AXT in the 4th quarter valued at about $228,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in AXT in the 4th quarter valued at about $278,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of AXT by 577.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 205,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,360,000 after purchasing an additional 175,158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Trading Down 10.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI traded down $7.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $60.28. 6,112,626 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,841,835. AXT has a 12 month low of $1.13 and a 12 month high of $70.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of -126.21 and a beta of 1.75.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $23.04 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.24 million. AXT had a negative return on equity of 9.50% and a negative net margin of 24.07%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AXT will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT’s product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.