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

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, an increase of 13.0% from the May 15th total of 999,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 969,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

AXT Price Performance

Shares of AXT stock remained flat at $3.63 on Monday. The company had a trading volume of 117,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,654,812. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.25. AXT has a 52 week low of $1.89 and a 52 week high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $22.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AXT will post -0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in shares of AXT in the third quarter valued at about $60,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $85,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AXT by 198.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 159,342 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 105,987 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AXT by 120.7% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 91,278 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 49,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AXT by 28.2% in the third quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 2,527,167 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,065,000 after acquiring an additional 556,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on AXT from $3.75 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.38.

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.