Cotton Stephen 4

What Happened
Stephen Cotton, CEO of Aqua Metals, had 2,402 shares withheld and returned to the company plan on July 1, 2026 to cover the tax liability from the vesting of a previously reported restricted share grant. The withheld shares were valued at $2.97 each, totaling approximately $7,134. This was a tax-withholding/share-surrender transaction (routine), not an open-market sale.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-07-01; Filing date (Form 4): 2026-07-07 (appears to be filed after the typical 2-business-day window).
• Shares withheld/returned to plan: 2,402 shares at $2.97 per share; total value ≈ $7,134.
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the excerpt provided; filing notes include 81,522 shares underlying RSUs that are not yet vested and deliverable. (See footnote F2.)
• Footnote F1: The 2,402 shares represent shares withheld to cover the tax liability of the July 1, 2026 vesting of a previously reported restricted share grant.
• Transaction code: F — tax withholding / share surrender (routine administrative action, not a market sale).

Context
Withholding shares to cover taxes on vested restricted stock is a common, administrative action and does not necessarily signal the insider’s view on the company. This was a cashless surrender of shares to meet tax obligations from an RSU vesting event. The filing date is several days after the transaction date, which is later than the usual SEC two-business-day reporting expectation.