AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $13.00, but opened at $14.01. AXT shares last traded at $13.8890, with a volume of 1,405,520 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on AXTI shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Northland Securities set a $10.00 price objective on AXT in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush set a $7.00 price objective on AXT and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.00.

AXT Stock Up 0.8%

The company has a market cap of $611.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.31 and a beta of 1.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.99.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AXT news, Director David C. Chang sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total transaction of $894,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 207,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,857,231.36. The trade was a 32.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.65, for a total transaction of $692,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,439,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,101,588.50. This trade represents a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 326,767 shares of company stock worth $3,329,808 in the last quarter. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its position in AXT by 100.0% during the second quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 39,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 19,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning acquired a new position in AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Company Profile

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.