Royce & Associates LP Has $1.78 Million Holdings in AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its stake in shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 733,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 185,000 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in AXT were worth $1,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AXT by 833.3% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 272,416 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $919,000 after purchasing an additional 243,226 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in AXT by 1,142.1% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 377,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after buying an additional 347,200 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in AXT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $122,000. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $127,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their price target on AXT from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.30.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of AXTI stock opened at $1.84 on Wednesday. AXT, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.73 and a 52-week high of $5.64. The stock has a market cap of $82.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.36 and a beta of 2.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $2.33 and its 200-day moving average is $2.93.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.01). AXT had a negative net margin of 10.73% and a negative return on equity of 4.58%. The business had revenue of $23.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.14) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that AXT, Inc. will post -0.22 EPS 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.