AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on AXTI. B. Riley Financial reduced their target price on shares of AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AXT from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $125.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

AXT Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ AXTI opened at $77.41 on Tuesday. AXT has a fifty-two week low of $4.00 and a fifty-two week high of $143.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $67.17 and a 200-day moving average of $74.94. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3,870.50 and a beta of 1.92.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $47.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.08 million. AXT had a return on equity of 0.96% and a net margin of 3.23%.AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AXT will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of AXT stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total value of $384,280.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 113,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,868,303.03. This trade represents a 3.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in AXT during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AXT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in AXT during the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, KBC Group NV purchased a new position in AXT in the first quarter valued at approximately $88,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrate materials used in high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its primary products include gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, which serve as the foundation for semiconductor components.

The company’s substrates are used in applications such as fiber-optic communications, data-center and telecommunications equipment, wireless infrastructure, radio-frequency devices, lasers, light-emitting diodes, and certain solar cells.