AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the four analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $5.38.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Craig Hallum lifted their target price on AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. B. Riley lifted their target price on AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, May 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 3,306,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,936,000 after buying an additional 779,548 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AXT by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,296,204 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,540,000 after purchasing an additional 20,747 shares in the last quarter. White Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 612,630 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 161,893 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 9.2% during the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 605,642 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,780,000 after buying an additional 50,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AXT by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 465,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 149,048 shares during the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AXTI opened at $3.64 on Thursday. AXT has a 1 year low of $1.89 and a 1 year high of $5.64. The firm has a market cap of $161.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.10 and a beta of 2.26. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.33.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $22.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.00 million. AXT had a negative return on equity of 7.40% and a negative net margin of 21.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.08) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AXT will post -0.2 EPS for the current year.

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.