Royce & Associates LP Sells 706,739 Shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its position in shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 96.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,970 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 706,739 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.06% of AXT worth $59,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Atlas Brown Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Barclays PLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the third quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of AXT by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 145,664 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 7,165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

AXT Trading Down 2.3 %

AXTI stock opened at $1.68 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.15. AXT, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1.29 and a 1-year high of $5.41. The stock has a market cap of $75.18 million, a P/E ratio of -6.00 and a beta of 2.17.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.08). AXT had a negative return on equity of 5.27% and a negative net margin of 11.70%. The business had revenue of $25.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.94 million. As a group, analysts forecast that AXT, Inc. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXTI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target (up previously from $5.50) on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $4.50 price target (down previously from $5.50) on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AXT presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.10.

AXT 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.