AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Trading Up 8.3% – Still a Buy?

Shares of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) rose 8.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $62.80 and last traded at $62.4660. 1,701,051 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 10,220,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AXTI shares. Northland Securities set a $125.00 target price on AXT in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Zacks Research raised AXT from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AXT from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

AXT Stock Up 10.2%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.36. The firm has a market cap of $4.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3,168.00 and a beta of 1.92.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.12. AXT had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 0.96%. The business had revenue of $47.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.08 million. AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AXT Inc will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AXT news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total transaction of $384,280.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 113,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,868,303.03. This represents a 3.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AXT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AXT by 79.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 1,394 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in AXT by 1,347.0% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 312,999 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,561,000 after acquiring an additional 291,368 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in AXT by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,928 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in AXT in the 2nd quarter worth $152,000. Finally, Amundi acquired a new position in AXT during the second quarter worth $200,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AXT

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrates used to produce high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its product portfolio includes gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, along with related materials and services supporting semiconductor manufacturing.

The company’s substrates are used in applications such as wireless communications, fiber-optic and data-center networking, optical sensing, laser devices, aerospace and defense systems, and solar cells.