AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $36.97, but opened at $41.24. AXT shares last traded at $43.1220, with a volume of 2,612,565 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AXTI shares. Northland Securities set a $125.00 price target on AXT in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. B. Riley Financial decreased their price objective on AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded AXT from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AXT presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.00.

AXT Trading Up 19.5%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $78.92 and a 200 day moving average of $61.58. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -143.00 and a beta of 1.86.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $26.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.22 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 14.69% and a negative return on equity of 5.71%. Equities analysts forecast that AXT Inc will post 0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AXT

In other AXT news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 123,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.33, for a total value of $14,007,701.33. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,149,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,606,574.89. The trade was a 5.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 8,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.17, for a total value of $926,379.61. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,244,393.05. This trade represents a 11.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 251,636 shares of company stock valued at $27,789,677. 5.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in AXT in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of AXT during the 1st quarter worth about $57,000. Tema ETFs LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,000. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter valued at about $88,000. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT’s product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.