AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) CEO Sells 35,000 Shares

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) CEO Morris Young sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.05, for a total transaction of $421,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,495,564 shares in the company, valued at $30,071,546.20. The trade was a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

AXT Stock Performance

AXTI stock traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $12.46. 3,800,060 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,152,200. The stock has a market cap of $580.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.08 and a beta of 1.97. AXT Inc has a fifty-two week low of $1.13 and a fifty-two week high of $13.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $7.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.35.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $27.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.85 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 25.22% and a negative return on equity of 11.19%. Research analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. White Pine Capital LLC increased its stake in AXT by 2.8% in the second quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 860,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 23,467 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in AXT by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 530,269 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 227,333 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 339.6% in the third quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 405,978 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after buying an additional 313,618 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AXT by 2.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 293,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 8,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of AXT by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 205,822 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 58,542 shares during the period. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley upped their price objective on AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush set a $7.00 target price on shares of AXT and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.00.

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.