AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $12.61 and last traded at $12.3050, with a volume of 1457131 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on AXTI shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Wedbush set a $7.00 target price on shares of AXT and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Northland Securities set a $10.00 price objective on AXT in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.00.

AXT Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $564.14 million, a P/E ratio of -23.27 and a beta of 1.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $7.47 and its 200 day moving average is $4.18.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AXT

In other news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.65, for a total value of $692,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,439,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,101,588.50. This trade represents a 3.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 100,000 shares of AXT stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total transaction of $894,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 207,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,857,231.36. This represents a 32.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 266,767 shares of company stock worth $2,537,058 over the last quarter. Insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AXTI. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in AXT in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AXT during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AXT in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its stake in AXT by 100.0% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in AXT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $86,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.