StockNews.com Upgrades AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) to “Sell”

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price objective (up previously from $5.50) on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $4.50 target price (down previously from $5.50) on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.10.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI opened at $1.48 on Thursday. AXT has a 52-week low of $1.29 and a 52-week high of $4.99. The company has a market capitalization of $67.49 million, a P/E ratio of -5.29 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.12.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.08). AXT had a negative return on equity of 5.27% and a negative net margin of 11.70%. The business had revenue of $25.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.94 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AXT will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,477,169 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after purchasing an additional 169,406 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the 3rd quarter valued at $85,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AXT by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 464,022 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 7,577 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Atlas Brown Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.