AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $5.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock.

AXTI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.30.

AXT Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AXTI opened at $2.01 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $2.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.40 million, a P/E ratio of -8.04 and a beta of 2.22. AXT has a 1 year low of $1.93 and a 1 year high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by ($0.01). AXT had a negative net margin of 10.73% and a negative return on equity of 4.58%. The company had revenue of $23.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AXT will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in AXT by 28.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its position in AXT by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 13,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in AXT in the first quarter worth approximately $52,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 1st quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System purchased a new position in AXT in the 1st quarter worth $93,000. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.