Squarepoint Ops LLC Buys 111,934 Shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI)

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 206.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 166,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 111,934 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned about 0.37% of AXT worth $561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AXT by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,296,204 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,540,000 after acquiring an additional 20,747 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AXT by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 605,642 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,780,000 after buying an additional 50,975 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in AXT by 1,142.1% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 377,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after buying an additional 347,200 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AXT by 833.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 272,416 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 243,226 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in shares of AXT by 4.3% in the second quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 202,223 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 8,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXTI. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Monday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AXT currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.38.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of AXT stock opened at $2.52 on Wednesday. AXT, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1.89 and a twelve month high of $5.64. The firm has a market cap of $111.89 million, a P/E ratio of -6.30 and a beta of 2.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.19.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. AXT had a negative return on equity of 5.87% and a negative net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $27.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that AXT, Inc. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.