Investors Purchase High Volume of AXT Put Options (NASDAQ:AXTI)

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 9,810 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 73% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,678 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at AXT

In other AXT news, CEO Morris S. Young sold 125,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.51, for a total value of $4,596,353.43. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,344,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,581,813.15. The trade was a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.53, for a total transaction of $770,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 112,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,344,026.32. This trade represents a 15.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 370,455 shares of company stock worth $14,879,664 over the last ninety days. 8.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AXT

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AXTI. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AXT by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 293,818 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning bought a new stake in AXT during the second quarter worth about $86,000. White Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 2.8% during the second quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 860,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,798,000 after buying an additional 23,467 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of AXT in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXTI. Wall Street Zen raised AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of AXT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on AXT to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.80.

AXT News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting AXT this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and stories highlighting an AI‑infrastructure growth narrative have lifted sentiment around AXT’s long‑term demand prospects for compound‑semiconductor wafers, supporting higher valuation expectations. Assessing AXT (AXTI) Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual call activity: traders bought ~14,442 call options on Mar 10 (≈171% above typical daily call volume), signaling short‑term bullish/speculative positioning that can amplify upside momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum rebound: the stock has rallied after recent losses as bargain hunters and momentum traders pushed the share price higher, reinforcing short‑term upward pressure. AXT Climbs 14.9%
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest figures appear anomalous/zero in recent data releases and provide no clear signal about short covering; treat those numbers cautiously.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling: CEO Morris S. Young sold 125,893 shares (~$4.6M) on Mar 9 and has reduced his stake; Director Jesse Chen has also sold multiple tranches. Significant insider disposals can weigh on sentiment and raise questions about timing. CEO Sale SEC Filing Director Jesse Chen Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual put buying: investors purchased 9,810 puts on Mar 11 (≈73% above normal put volume), indicating some participants are hedging or taking bearish positions, which could cap near‑term gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed Q4/FY2025 results: revenue fell to $23.0M (down QoQ and YoY) and GAAP gross margin softened to ~20.9%, underscoring near‑term execution/visibility concerns despite the longer‑term AI narrative. AXT Reports Q4 & FY2025 Results

AXT Stock Up 4.5%

AXTI traded up $1.97 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.27. 6,701,514 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,311,494. The company has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -96.76 and a beta of 1.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.10. AXT has a fifty-two week low of $1.13 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.24 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that AXT will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

AXT Company Profile

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.