Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 193,331 Shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its position in AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 79.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 193,331 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.11% of AXT worth $170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in AXT by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 465,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after buying an additional 149,048 shares during the last quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. lifted its stake in AXT by 30.8% during the 4th 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. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of AXT by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 37,387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 11,892 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

AXT Trading Up 5.4 %

AXTI opened at $2.94 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.52. The company has a market capitalization of $130.53 million, a PE ratio of -7.35 and a beta of 2.28. AXT, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1.89 and a 1-year high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. AXT had a negative return on equity of 5.85% and a negative net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $27.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that AXT, Inc. will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.