AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,770,000 shares, an increase of 121.0% from the February 29th total of 801,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXTI. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AXT by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 3,306,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,936,000 after acquiring an additional 779,548 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,139,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AXT by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,275,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,461,000 after acquiring an additional 285,113 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of AXT by 866.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 256,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 230,013 shares during the period. Finally, Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AXT by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,460,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,397,000 after acquiring an additional 225,000 shares during the period. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AXT Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI opened at $4.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.38 million, a PE ratio of -11.37 and a beta of 2.24. AXT has a twelve month low of $1.89 and a twelve month high of $5.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.73.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.05. AXT had a negative net margin of 23.59% and a negative return on equity of 7.80%. The firm had revenue of $20.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.62 million. Analysts anticipate that AXT will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 23rd. B. Riley upgraded shares of AXT from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $2.40 to $3.80 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $2.25 to $3.75 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 2nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4.71.

About AXT

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.