Short Interest in SEALSQ Corp. (NASDAQ:LAES) Drops By 26.9%

Key Points

• Short interest fell 26.9% to 18,189,265 shares as of March 13, leaving a short-interest ratio of 3.3 days and roughly 10.3% of the company's shares sold short.
• CFO John Charles O'Hara sold 10,000 shares on March 25 (part of 35,000 insider shares sold in the last 90 days), reducing his stake to 165,183 shares.
• Institutional activity surged—UBS boosted its stake by 398% to 3,223,216 shares and several funds added positions—yet hedge funds own only ~1.25% of the stock; shares traded down 8.2% to $2.45 and MarketBeat shows a consensus "Hold" with an average target of $7.50.

SEALSQ Corp. (NASDAQ:LAES - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 18,189,265 shares, a decline of 26.9% from the February 26th total of 24,876,865 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,492,910 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 10.3% of the company's shares are sold short.

Insider Activity at SEALSQ

In related news, CFO John Charles O'hara sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.92, for a total transaction of $29,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 165,183 shares in the company, valued at $482,334.36. This represents a 5.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 35,000 shares of company stock worth $104,450 in the last ninety days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SEALSQ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAES. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of SEALSQ by 398.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,223,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,184,000 after buying an additional 2,576,003 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in SEALSQ during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,921,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in SEALSQ during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,365,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 747.8% during 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 bought a new stake in SEALSQ during the fourth quarter worth about $1,287,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.25% of the company's stock.

SEALSQ Stock Down 8.2%

Shares of LAES traded down $0.22 on Friday, reaching $2.45. The stock had a trading volume of 7,294,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,120,019. The company has a current ratio of 7.38, a quick ratio of 7.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. SEALSQ has a 12-month low of $2.12 and a 12-month high of $8.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of SEALSQ in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of SEALSQ to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of SEALSQ in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Maxim Group set a $8.00 price target on shares of SEALSQ in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. 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. According to MarketBeat, SEALSQ currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $7.50.

About SEALSQ

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.

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