AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 877,800 shares, a decline of 9.2% from the August 15th total of 967,200 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 268,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AXTI. StockNews.com downgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AXT has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.38.

AXT Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.14. The stock had a trading volume of 160,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,160,747. The company has a market capitalization of $95.01 million, a PE ratio of -5.48 and a beta of 2.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.44. AXT has a 1 year low of $1.89 and a 1 year high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $27.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.50 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 14.75% and a negative return on equity of 5.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AXT will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AXT by 125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 13,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AXT in the first quarter worth about $77,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.