Traders Buy High Volume of SEALSQ Call Options (NASDAQ:LAES)

Key Points

• Traders bought an unusually large volume of call options on SEALSQ — 78,492 calls, a 227% increase versus the average call volume.
• Company insiders have been selling shares: the VP sold 15,000 shares and the CFO sold 10,000 shares (both under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans), and insiders have sold 125,250 shares worth $331,928 over the past 90 days.
• Analyst coverage is mixed with a consensus "Hold" and $6.00 price target; the stock trades near $3.06 with negative recent EPS and sits below its 200-day moving average.

SEALSQ Corp. (NASDAQ:LAES - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 78,492 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 227% compared to the average volume of 23,988 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at SEALSQ

In related news, VP Jean-Pierre Enguent sold 15,000 shares of SEALSQ stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.20, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 15,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 SEALSQ stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.06, for a total transaction of $30,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 296,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $906,050.70. The trade was a 3.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 125,250 shares of company stock worth $331,928.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SEALSQ

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 51.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 8,645 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,945 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 65,065 shares of the company's stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 2,968 shares in the last quarter. Convergence Financial LLC boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Convergence Financial LLC now owns 14,216 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 172.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 9,435 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 5,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 270,915 shares of the company's stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LAES shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of SEALSQ in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SEALSQ from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Maxim Group set a $8.00 price objective on shares of SEALSQ in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of SEALSQ from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $6.00.

SEALSQ Stock Performance

SEALSQ stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $3.06. The stock had a trading volume of 7,999,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,548,582. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.16. SEALSQ has a one year low of $1.99 and a one year high of $8.71.

SEALSQ (NASDAQ:LAES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $6.71 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SEALSQ will post -0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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