AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Down 6.3% – Time to Sell?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s share price traded down 6.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $50.03 and last traded at $53.3920. 4,766,032 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 9,072,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXTI. Wall Street Zen upgraded AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on AXT in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded AXT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their target price on AXT to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

AXT Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.94 and a 200-day moving average of $20.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -110.08 and a beta of 1.51.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued 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 business 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AXT news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 159,536 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.32, for a total transaction of $6,911,099.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,482,038 shares in the company, valued at $107,521,886.16. This represents a 6.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jesse Chen sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.13, for a total value of $706,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 123,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,825,833.56. The trade was a 10.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 502,278 shares of company stock valued at $21,196,754. Company insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Destination Wealth Management purchased a new position in AXT during the 3rd quarter valued at about $458,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AXT in the third quarter worth about $729,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AXT by 2,404.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 574,828 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,398,000 after buying an additional 551,876 shares in the last quarter. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AXT by 2,333,600.0% in the third quarter. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 23,337 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 23,336 shares during the period. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in shares of AXT in the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Company Profile

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.