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

SEALSQ Corp. (NASDAQ:LAES) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 78,492 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 227% compared to the average volume of 23,988 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on LAES shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of SEALSQ from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of SEALSQ from $7.00 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Maxim Group set a $8.00 target price on shares of SEALSQ in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of SEALSQ in a research note on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.00.

SEALSQ Trading Up 6.7%

SEALSQ stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $3.06. The stock had a trading volume of 7,999,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,548,582. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $3.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.16. SEALSQ has a 52-week low of $1.99 and a 52-week high of $8.71.

SEALSQ (NASDAQ:LAES) last released its 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. As a group, research analysts predict that SEALSQ will post -0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other SEALSQ news, CFO John Charles O’hara sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.06, for a total transaction of $30,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 296,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $906,050.70. This represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Jean-Pierre Enguent sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.20, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $33,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 125,250 shares of company stock worth $331,928 in the last 90 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAES. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 398.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,223,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,576,003 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in SEALSQ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,921,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in SEALSQ in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,365,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in SEALSQ by 747.8% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 491,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 433,547 shares during the period. Finally, Kessler Investment Group LLC bought a new position in SEALSQ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,287,000. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.