AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Short Interest Down 12.4% in May

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 885,000 shares, a decrease of 12.4% from the April 30th total of 1,010,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 497,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. White Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 668,499 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,451,000 after buying an additional 5,246 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 302,964 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 7,165 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 145,664 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 7,165 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 2.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 293,818 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 8,039 shares during the period. Finally, Park Edge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 25.1% in the first quarter. Park Edge Advisors LLC now owns 62,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 12,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AXTI. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $4.50 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AXT to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, B. Riley cut their price target on shares of AXT from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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, AXT currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $4.75.

AXT Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $1.78. 192,510 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 393,256. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.79. AXT has a 1-year low of $1.13 and a 1-year high of $4.03. The firm has a market cap of $80.95 million, a P/E ratio of -6.34 and a beta of 1.96.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.07). AXT had a negative return on equity of 5.27% and a negative net margin of 11.70%. As a group, research analysts predict that AXT will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

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.