AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AXTI. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AXT from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. 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 report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.80.

AXT Price Performance

AXTI traded down $1.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.84. The stock had a trading volume of 10,606,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,823,147. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.24. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.98 and a beta of 2.01. AXT has a one year low of $8.44 and a one year high of $143.16.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $73.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.00 million. AXT had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 18.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AXT will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AXT 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 113,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,868,303.03. The trade was a 3.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the third quarter worth $230,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AXT during the third quarter worth about $279,000. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in AXT during the third quarter worth about $8,297,000. Allianz SE bought a new position in AXT in the 3rd quarter valued at about $516,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AXT in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $401,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc. develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrate materials used to make electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its products include indium phosphide, gallium arsenide and germanium substrates, supplied in wafer form for use by semiconductor manufacturers. These materials support applications such as fiber-optic and data communications, wireless devices, lasers, LEDs and solar cells. AXT also provides substrate processing services, including wafer polishing and finishing. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT serves customers around the world.