Insider Selling: AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Director Sells 500 Shares of Stock

August 20, 2026 by InsiderTrades.com

Key Points

AXT director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares at an average price of $96.07, generating $384,280 and reducing his ownership by 3.42% to 113,129 shares.
AXT shares opened at $73.43 after a reported 10.8% decline, despite the company exceeding quarterly earnings and revenue estimates and issuing third-quarter EPS guidance of $0.30–$0.32.
Analyst views remain mixed but lean positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $77 price target; investors are balancing AXT’s strong indium phosphide and AI-related growth prospects against sector volatility and insider selling.

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report) Director Leonard Leblanc sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.59, for a total value of $44,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 119,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,672,767.11. This trade represents a 0.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

AXT Stock Down 10.8%

3 Under-The-Radar Small Caps Making New All-Time Highs

Shares of AXTI stock opened at $73.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 3,671.50 and a beta of 1.90. AXT Inc has a fifty-two week low of $2.20 and a fifty-two week high of $143.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.26.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $47.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 million. AXT had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 0.96%. AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AXT Inc will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXTI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley Financial reduced their target price on AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on AXT in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research raised AXT from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AXT from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $125.00 price target on shares of AXT in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AXT currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.00.

View Our Latest Research Report on AXTI

Key Stories Impacting AXT

Here are the key news stories impacting AXT this week:

Positive Sentiment: AXT’s record InP revenue, backlog exceeding $100 million and planned capacity expansion point to a potentially multiyear growth opportunity as AI data centers drive demand for optical components. AXT's InP Demand Is Surging: Can It Become a Long-Term Growth Driver?
Positive Sentiment: Recent reports attributed prior strength in AXTI to tightening indium phosphide supply and new AI-related deals, supporting the view that AXT could benefit from increased optical-networking demand. Why AXT Is Up 11.6% After Indium Phosphide Supply Tightens Amid New AI Deals
Neutral Sentiment: Tradr launched an exchange-traded fund featuring AXT and other optics and AI companies. The product could increase trading visibility and investor access, but its direct effect on AXT’s fundamentals remains uncertain. Tradr Debuts First-to-Market ETFs on Meta, AXT, Coherent & Lightwave Logic
Negative Sentiment: AXTI has been caught in a broad selloff across optics and AI-hardware stocks as investors reassess the pace of AI spending and take profits after substantial sector gains. This risk-off backdrop is offsetting the company’s favorable InP demand outlook. Optics Stocks Drop on Anthropic News
Negative Sentiment: Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 AXTI shares for approximately $384,280 on August 17, following additional sales of 2,000 shares in August and 500 shares in June. Although he still owns more than 113,000 shares, the repeated transactions may raise a modest insider-confidence concern. Leonard Leblanc Sells 4,000 Shares of AXT Stock

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in AXT during the second quarter worth about $365,607,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 161.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,505,354 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $85,775,000 after purchasing an additional 930,526 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new stake in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter valued at $22,738,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of AXT in the 4th quarter worth $20,187,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in AXT by 1,314.6% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 904,599 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $14,790,000 after acquiring an additional 840,650 shares during the period. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AXT

(Get Free Report)

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT's product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.