Cotton Stephen 4

What Happened

• Stephen Cotton, CEO of Aqua Metals, had 3,307 shares withheld and returned to the company's plan to cover tax withholding related to the February 24, 2026 vesting of a previously reported restricted share grant. The shares were valued at $4.76 each, for a total of about $15,741. This was a tax-withholding disposition (SEC transaction code F), not an open-market sale.

Key Details

• Transaction date: February 24, 2026; filing date: February 26, 2026 (timely filed).
• Price per share: $4.76; shares withheld/returned: 3,307; total value: ~$15,741.
• Shares owned after the transaction: not specified in the summary provided here — see the SEC filing (Accession No. 0001437749-26-005958) for total beneficial ownership.
• Footnotes: F1 — shares withheld and returned to the plan to cover taxes on the Feb 24, 2026 vesting of a previously reported restricted share grant. F2 — the filing also notes 92,745 shares underlying RSUs that are not yet vested and deliverable.
• Transaction code: F (withholding of shares to cover tax liability), a routine administrative action rather than a market-driven sale.

Context

• Withholding shares to cover taxes is common when restricted stock or RSUs vest; it does not necessarily indicate the insider is reducing their economic exposure via an open-market sale.
• The filing indicates a vesting event occurred and that a material number of RSUs remain unvested (92,745 underlying RSUs), which could result in future withholding actions when they vest.