Key points
- AXT (AXTI) director Leonard J. LeBlanc filed a Form 144 on Aug. 7, 2026 to sell 2,000 shares worth $175,020, priced at $87.51 each.
- His only other sale in the past year was 3,637 shares at $8.41 in November 2025, a bit more than a tenth of this price.
- AXT closed at $88.57 on Aug. 7, up 139.6% from its July 29 close of $36.97, after a new Lumentum supply deal and a blowout second quarter.
- The shares up for sale trace back to two annual director stock awards, one granted in 2014 and one that vested this past May.
Form 144 notices tell you a sale is coming before it happens, and this one is worth pulling up next to the insider's own filing history, because the two don't match the way you'd expect.
Leonard J. LeBlanc, a director at AXT (AXTI), filed his notice with the SEC on Aug. 7, 2026. It covers 2,000 shares of Class A common stock, valued in the filing at $175,020, or $87.51 a share, to be sold through Purshe Kaplan Sterling on or about that date. AXT reported 65,423,184 shares outstanding on the notice, so the block itself is tiny against the company. What stands out is the price.
Where the shares came from
Every Form 144 asks how the seller got the stock. He's got two lots to pull from, both stock awards from AXT paid as compensation. One vested just this past May. The other has been sitting there since May 23, 2014, a full twelve years. Which pile the 2,000 shares actually come from, the notice doesn't say, just that both are on the table.
There's also a sale buried in the filing's fine print: 500 shares that went out on June 10, 2026 for about $89.41 apiece, sold through something called the Leblanc Living Trust. No Form 4 confirming that trade has shown up on EDGAR yet, so it's disclosed here first.
He's sold once in the past year
Here's the part that doesn't fit a routine seller's pattern. LeBlanc's EDGAR record shows four filings touching AXT stock going back to July 2025, and only one of them was an actual sale.
| Date | Filing | Shares | Price | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul. 29, 2025 | Form 4 | 29,112 | $2.29 | Annual grant received |
| Nov. 7, 2025 | Form 4 | 3,637 | $8.41 | Sold |
| Jun. 4, 2026 | Form 4 | 754 | $105.99 | Annual grant received |
| Jun. 10, 2026 | Disclosed on Form 144 | 500 | $89.41 | Sold (via living trust) |
| Aug. 7, 2026 | Form 144 (this notice) | 2,000 | $87.51 | Filed to sell |
The July 2025 grant landed on a rough day for AXT. The stock closed at $2.29 that session. Two weeks later it touched $2.05, its 52-week low. The June 2026 grant landed on a very different day, priced off a $105.99 close, roughly 46 times higher. LeBlanc's one confirmed sale sits between those two grants: 3,637 shares at $8.41 in November, worth $30,583. This new notice prices out at more than ten times that per-share figure.
What sent AXT from $37 to $88
The stock's move is the more interesting story here, and it didn't come from LeBlanc's filing. AXT makes indium phosphide and gallium arsenide wafer substrates, the material semiconductor and optical components get built on when ordinary silicon can't do the job. On July 26, it signed a six-year capacity reservation agreement with Lumentum (LITE) for indium phosphide wafer supply, with Lumentum putting up $43.5 million now and another $43.5 million later, $87 million total, credited against future shipments.
Four days later, on July 30th, AXT reported their second-quarter results, and the results were a blowout. Revenue jumped to $47.6 million, up from $18.0 million a year earlier and $26.9 million the quarter before that. Gross margin was just 8.0% a year ago. Now it's 44.9%. Last quarter's loss turned into an $11.1 million profit, $0.17 a share. Non-GAAP profit came in a touch higher, at $0.19. Chief executive Morris Young called it "an incredibly exciting time for AXT," pointing to demand for data-center optical connectivity as the driver. Analysts moved fast: Needham upgraded the stock to Buy with a $90 price target, and Wedbush reiterated Outperform at $93.
AXT closed at $36.97 on July 29. Both the Lumentum news and the earnings beat landed within the next two sessions, and the stock climbed to $60.43 by July 31. It kept climbing from there. From that $36.97 low to the $88.57 close on Aug. 7, the stock is up 139.6%. Measured from July 31 alone, the gain is still 46.6% in five sessions.
What the notice settles, and what it leaves open
A Form 144 is an intention, not a completed trade. The confirming Form 4 for these 2,000 shares hasn't been filed yet, and both the size and the timing can still change between now and then. The same is true of the 500-share June trust sale mentioned above, disclosed here but with no Form 4 to match it as of this writing.
What the filing doesn't answer is why now. LeBlanc has had access to the 2014 lot for twelve years and the newer lot since May, and he let AXT run from about $2 to nearly $90 with only one sale in between. Reading conviction, or the lack of it, into a single filing is a separate leap from what the document itself shows. It shows a director monetizing compensation he's held a long time, at the highest price he's ever had the chance to.
AXT's full filing history sits on its stock page, and new insider notices like this one show up on our insider trading tracker as they land.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR, Form 144 filed by Leonard J. LeBlanc, Aug. 7, 2026
- SEC EDGAR, Leonard J. LeBlanc filing history
- SEC EDGAR, AXT, Inc. second quarter 2026 earnings release, July 30, 2026
- SEC EDGAR, AXT, Inc. 8-K, Lumentum capacity reservation agreement, July 26, 2026
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Prices are as of the Aug. 7, 2026 close and will change. Always do your own research and consider speaking with a licensed financial professional before making any investment decision.
