AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

AXTI has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday. B. Riley increased their price objective on AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Craig Hallum lifted their target price on AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AXT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.38.

AXT Trading Up 7.4 %

NASDAQ AXTI traded up $0.27 on Monday, reaching $3.93. 1,484,284 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,086,579. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.90 million, a P/E ratio of -9.82 and a beta of 2.28. AXT has a fifty-two week low of $1.89 and a fifty-two week high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.03. AXT had a negative net margin of 21.01% and a negative return on equity of 7.36%. The firm had revenue of $22.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AXT will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AXTI. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. increased its stake in AXT by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 3,306,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,936,000 after purchasing an additional 779,548 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AXT by 866.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 256,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 230,013 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in AXT by 127.3% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 377,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $906,000 after buying an additional 211,351 shares in the last quarter. White Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in AXT by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 612,630 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 161,893 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in AXT by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 465,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after buying an additional 149,048 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

About AXT

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.