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

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 333,800 shares, a drop of 23.0% from the August 15th total of 433,300 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 437,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.

AXT Stock Down 0.9 %

AXTI traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $2.30. The stock had a trading volume of 64,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 309,728. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.20. AXT has a 52 week low of $2.20 and a 52 week high of $7.82.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.12). The business had revenue of $18.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.26 million. AXT had a negative return on equity of 0.56% and a negative net margin of 1.34%. On average, analysts predict that AXT will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in AXT in the second quarter valued at approximately $195,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in AXT in the second quarter valued at about $153,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in AXT during the second quarter worth about $152,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AXT by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 84,536 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 27,526 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXTI shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on AXT in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet downgraded AXT from a “c-” rating to a “d” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.58.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates. It produces semiconductor substrates using its proprietary vertical gradient freeze technology. The company offers indium phosphide for use in data center connectivity using light/lasers, 5G communications, fiber optic lasers and detectors, passive optical networks, silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, terrestrial solar cells, RF amplifier and switching, infrared light-emitting diode (LEDS) motion control, lidar for robotics and autonomous vehicles, and infrared thermal imaging.