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

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $28.43, but opened at $29.82. AXT shares last traded at $32.3630, with a volume of 3,101,466 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTI has been the subject of several recent research reports. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of AXT to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group set a $35.00 target price on AXT in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen raised AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on AXT in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.80.

AXT Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -74.84 and a beta of 1.96.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.01). AXT had a negative return on equity of 10.59% and a negative net margin of 24.07%.The business had revenue of $23.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.24 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.05, for a total value of $421,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,495,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,071,546.20. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 25,000 shares of AXT stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.84, for a total value of $371,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 132,744 shares in the company, valued at $1,969,920.96. The trade was a 15.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,000. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AXT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in AXT during the third quarter valued at about $112,000. White Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of AXT by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 860,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 23,467 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of AXT by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,952 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AXT by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,967 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 3,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nano Cap New Millennium Growth Fund L P acquired a new stake in AXT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,014,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.