AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Down 5.9% – Should You Sell?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s stock price dropped 5.9% during trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $73.90 and last traded at $75.0780. Approximately 2,180,554 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 10,071,744 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXTI has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on AXT in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. B. Riley Financial lowered their target price on AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research downgraded AXT from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of AXT from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.00.

AXT Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $71.63 and its 200 day moving average is $76.20. The stock has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 3,423.00 and a beta of 1.86.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.12. AXT had a return on equity of 0.96% and a net margin of 3.23%. The company had revenue of $47.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 million. AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AXT Inc will post 0.80 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 113,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,868,303.03. This trade represents a 3.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in AXT in the 2nd quarter worth about $365,607,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AXT by 161.9% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,505,354 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $85,775,000 after buying an additional 930,526 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,062,000. Ariose Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in AXT during the 1st quarter valued at $39,061,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in AXT during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,911,000. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrate materials used in high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its primary products include gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, which serve as the foundation for semiconductor components.

The company’s substrates are used in applications such as fiber-optic communications, data-center and telecommunications equipment, wireless infrastructure, radio-frequency devices, lasers, light-emitting diodes, and certain solar cells.