AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $5.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock.

AXTI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $5.50 price target on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of AXT from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.10.

AXT Stock Performance

NASDAQ AXTI opened at $1.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.71 million, a PE ratio of -6.32 and a beta of 2.08. AXT has a 52-week low of $1.56 and a 52-week high of $5.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.29.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.08). AXT had a negative return on equity of 4.58% and a negative net margin of 10.73%. The company had revenue of $25.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.94 million. As a group, analysts forecast that AXT will post -0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AXT in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Atlas Brown Inc. bought a new position in AXT in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.