Legato Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI)

Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 148,700 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $503,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $7,936,000 after purchasing an additional 779,548 shares during the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AXT during the 1st quarter worth about $743,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in AXT by 47.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 465,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 149,048 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its holdings in AXT by 208.6% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 115,388 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 78,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AXT by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 605,642 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 50,975 shares during the last quarter. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AXT Stock Performance

NASDAQ AXTI opened at $2.64 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.53. AXT, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.89 and a 52-week high of $5.64. The stock has a market cap of $117.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 2.28.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $27.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.12) EPS. On average, analysts predict that AXT, Inc. will post -0.2 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on AXTI shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.38.

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.