Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM) CEO Tabuteau Sells Shares After Option Exercise

What Happened

• Herriot Tabuteau, CEO of Axsome Therapeutics, exercised stock options that were expiring and immediately sold the resulting shares. On 2026-08-05 he exercised 45,004 options at $4.95 ($222,770) and sold those 45,004 shares at a weighted average price of $212.01 for $9,541,298. On 2026-08-06 he exercised 4,660 options at $4.95 ($23,067) and sold those 4,660 shares at a weighted average price of $213.95 for $997,007. Total sale proceeds ≈ $10,538,305; total exercise cost ≈ $245,837; approximate net proceeds before taxes/fees ≈ $10,292,468.

Key Details

• Transaction dates: 2026-08-05 (45,004 shares) and 2026-08-06 (4,660 shares).
• Sale prices: weighted avg $212.01 (range $209.28–$216.35) for 8/5 sales; weighted avg $213.95 (range $212.41–$216.36) for 8/6 sales.
• Type of transactions: M = exercised options; S = open-market sales of the acquired shares. The Form 4 also shows derivative line items reflecting the options disposed upon exercise.
• Footnotes: F1 — options were exercised because they were reaching their 10‑year expiration; F2 — sales were made under a pre‑approved 10b5‑1 plan (plan now completed); F3 — sales represent the subsequent disposition of shares acquired on exercise; F6 — some shares are held by an entity of which the reporting person has voting/dispositive power (indirect beneficial ownership).
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the provided summary of the filing.
• Filing: Form 4 filed 2026-08-07 reporting the 08-05/08-06 transactions (filed within the normal Form 4 window).

Context

• This was an exercise of expiring options followed by immediate open‑market sales (a common cash‑out of option value). Because the sales were made under a pre‑approved 10b5‑1 plan and the options were exercised due to expiration, these transactions are typically viewed as routine rather than a new purchase signal. Purchases tend to be more indicative of bullish insider conviction than routine option exercises followed by sales.