AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $12.61 and last traded at $12.3050, with a volume of 1457131 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AXTI. Wedbush set a $7.00 target price on AXT and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen raised AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Northland Securities set a $10.00 price objective on AXT in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.00.

AXT Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $520.97 million, a PE ratio of -20.37 and a beta of 2.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.06.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.08. AXT had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 27.68%.The company had revenue of $27.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.85 million. Equities research analysts expect that AXT Inc will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AXT

In other AXT news, Director Leonard J. Leblanc sold 3,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.41, for a total value of $30,587.17. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 118,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,738.75. This represents a 2.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.65, for a total value of $692,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,439,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,101,588.50. The trade was a 3.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 216,767 shares of company stock worth $1,960,808. Company insiders own 8.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its holdings in AXT by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 39,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 19,575 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in AXT in the second quarter valued at about $86,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.