AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Short Interest Update

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 629,400 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the September 30th total of 665,400 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 296,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXTI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AXT has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AXT by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AXT by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 13,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Keystone Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of AXT by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 202,223 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $684,000 after acquiring an additional 8,333 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in AXT during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in AXT by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 158,651 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 11,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AXTI opened at $2.58 on Friday. AXT has a 1 year low of $1.89 and a 1 year high of $5.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.02.

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