ACME UNITED (ACU) Director Brian Barker Exercises Options

What Happened
Brian Barker, a director of ACME UNITED CORP (ACU), exercised 4,000 stock options on 2026-08-11 with a strike price of $21.20 (cost = $84,800). The reported market price on the filing was $57.35, giving the 4,000 underlying shares a market value of about $229,400. Per the filing, 1,479 shares were withheld to satisfy tax obligations (valued at $84,821), so Barker netted 2,521 shares in a net (cashless) share settlement.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-08-11
• Exercise: 4,000 options exercised at $21.20 (total exercise cost $84,800)
• Tax withholding: 1,479 shares withheld/disposed at $57.35 (value $84,821)
• Net shares received: 4,000 − 1,479 = 2,521 shares
• Footnote: F1 — exercise effected on a net share settlement basis (tax withholding)
• Filing: Form 4 filed 2026-08-12 (appears timely); no late filing indicated in provided data
• Shares owned after transaction: not reported in the provided excerpt

Context

• This was an option exercise recorded as a net/cashless settlement: options converted to shares, and a portion of those shares were withheld to cover taxes rather than sold in an open-market transaction.
• Transaction codes: M = option exercise/conversion; F = tax withholding. These are common, routine insider actions and do not by themselves indicate a personal buy or sell intent beyond exercising vested options.