AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Short Interest Down 7.2% in December

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 609,400 shares, a decline of 7.2% from the November 30th total of 656,700 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 376,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of AXT from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AXT has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.30.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of AXT by 13.0% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,477,169 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,575,000 after acquiring an additional 169,406 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in AXT by 10.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 606,417 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,468,000 after buying an additional 54,891 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 464,022 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 7,577 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of AXT by 1,142.1% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 377,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 347,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 301,812 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 60,623 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of AXTI stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $2.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 425,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 937,264. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $2.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.63. The company has a market cap of $97.11 million, a P/E ratio of -8.68 and a beta of 2.15. AXT has a 1-year low of $1.73 and a 1-year high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by ($0.01). AXT had a negative return on equity of 4.58% and a negative net margin of 10.73%. The business had revenue of $23.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AXT will post -0.22 EPS for the current year.

AXT Company Profile

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.