Nicolet Bankshares Director Robert Atwell Exercises Options, Sells Shares

What Happened
Robert Bruce Atwell, a director of Nicolet Bankshares, exercised options to acquire 7,500 shares at $56.43 per share (cost $423,225) on 2026-07-24. On the same day he disposed of 7,500 shares in two ways: 4,838 shares were withheld to cover taxes ($826,572) and 2,662 shares were sold in the open market (~$453,179). The disposals total roughly $1,279,751. The exercise and simultaneous disposals resulted in no net new shares retained from this transaction.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-07-24; Form 4 filed 2026-07-28 (covers same trade date).
• Exercise: 7,500 shares acquired at $56.43 each (total $423,225).
• Tax withholding (F): 4,838 shares withheld at a weighted average price of $170.85 (total $826,572).
• Open-market sale (S): 2,662 shares sold at a weighted average price of $170.24 (total $453,179). The reported sale prices ranged from $170.11 to $170.58 (see footnote F1).
• Net effect: 7,500 shares acquired via option exercise and 7,500 shares disposed (4,838 withheld + 2,662 sold) — effectively a cashless exercise with no net share gain.
• Filing notes: Footnote F2 notes 2.52 shares were received via dividend reinvestment in a deferred compensation plan; F3 describes vesting history and that nonqualified options are exercisable as to 40,000 shares.
• The Form 4 does not state Mr. Atwell’s total beneficial ownership after these transactions.

Context
This is a common pattern when an option holder exercises and simultaneously satisfies tax withholding and/or sells shares to cover costs — often called a cashless exercise. Sales to cover taxes (coded F) are administrative and do not necessarily indicate sentiment. There is no indication in the filing of a trading plan (e.g., 10b5-1) or that the Form 4 was late; the filing date is shown as 2026-07-28 for the 2026-07-24 transactions.