AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Trading Down 6.4% on Insider Selling

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)’s share price fell 6.4% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $10.60 and last traded at $11.0040. 876,281 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 1,114,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.76.

Specifically, Director David C. Chang sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.33, for a total transaction of $308,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 157,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,944,983.52. This represents a 13.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David C. Chang sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.72, for a total value of $268,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 182,744 shares in the company, valued at $1,959,015.68. The trade was a 12.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXTI has been the topic of several research reports. B. Riley upped their price target on AXT from $4.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush set a $7.00 price objective on AXT and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on AXT from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AXT in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $10.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.00.

AXT Stock Up 5.4%

The stock has a market cap of $564.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.27 and a beta of 1.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $7.61 and its 200-day moving average is $4.24.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.08. AXT had a negative net margin of 25.22% and a negative return on equity of 11.19%. The company had revenue of $27.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.85 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AXT Inc will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the third quarter worth about $52,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AXT by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,952 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its stake in AXT by 2,333,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 23,337 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 23,336 shares in the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.