SEALSQ (NASDAQ:LAES) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Shares gapped up, opening at $2.81 versus the prior close of $2.59 and last trading around $2.8550 on heavy volume (~14.96M shares).
• Analysts are mixed: the consensus rating is "Hold" with a $6.00 consensus price target, while individual price targets range from $4 to $8 and ratings span Buy/Hold/Sell.
• Insiders have been selling recently (90,000 shares worth ~$231k in the last 90 days), even as institutional investors like UBS dramatically increased their stake (UBS added ~2.576M shares to hold ~3.22M shares).

Shares of SEALSQ Corp. (NASDAQ:LAES - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $2.59, but opened at $2.81. SEALSQ shares last traded at $2.8550, with a volume of 14,956,703 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Maxim Group set a $8.00 target price on SEALSQ in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered SEALSQ from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. Zacks Research upgraded SEALSQ to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on SEALSQ from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of SEALSQ in a research note on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $6.00.

SEALSQ Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $3.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.33.

SEALSQ (NASDAQ:LAES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $6.71 million during the quarter.

Insider Transactions at SEALSQ

In related news, VP Jean-Pierre Enguent sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.20, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 15,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO John Charles O'hara sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.92, for a total value of $29,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 165,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $482,334.36. The trade was a 5.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 90,000 shares of company stock worth $231,250.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SEALSQ

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in SEALSQ by 398.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,223,216 shares of the company's stock worth $12,184,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576,003 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in SEALSQ in the fourth quarter worth about $3,921,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in SEALSQ by 11.4% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 584,767 shares of the company's stock worth $2,357,000 after acquiring an additional 59,902 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in SEALSQ by 747.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 491,523 shares of the company's stock worth $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 433,547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kessler Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in SEALSQ in the fourth quarter worth about $1,287,000. Institutional investors own 1.25% of the company's stock.

SEALSQ Company Profile

SEALSQ Corp, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets semiconductor chips in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers semiconductors, such as VaultIC secure elements, secure arm platform, and smart card reader chips; identity provisioning services, such as IoT device provisioning and chip provisioning; and managed PKI for IoT solutions and trust services. The company provides device-to-cloud authentication, device attestation for matter, GSMA root certificate, device-to-device authentication, data protection, anti-counterfeiting and brand protection, security access, device ID provisioning, identity lifecycle management, and satellite IoT connectivity solutions.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.