Arbutus (ABUS) Director Roger Sawhney Exercises Options

What Happened

• Roger Sawhney, a director of Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS), exercised stock options on September 18, 2026, resulting in the acquisition of 131,333 shares via two option exercises (52,533 shares at $3.34 and 78,800 shares at $4.24). The aggregate cash cost of those exercises was about $509,572.
• The issuer withheld 100,508 shares to satisfy the exercise price/tax withholding (reported as a disposition), leaving a net issuance to Sawhney of 30,825 shares. The withheld shares covered roughly $509,576 in obligations.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-09-18; Form 4 filed: 2026-09-23 (appears filed 5 days after the transactions).
• Exercises (code M): 52,533 shares @ $3.34 (≈ $175,460) and 78,800 shares @ $4.24 (≈ $334,112), total ≈ $509,572.
• Withholding/tax payment (code F): 100,508 shares surrendered @ $5.07 (≈ $509,576) to cover exercise price/taxes.
• Net new shares received by Sawhney after withholding: 30,825 shares (131,333 acquired minus 100,508 withheld).
• Shares owned after the transaction: not specified in the provided filing excerpt.
• Footnotes of note:
  • F1: Issuer withheld 100,508 shares to satisfy aggregate exercise prices.
  • F2: The 157,600-share option vests over three years (1/3 on each anniversary of Aug 4, 2025).
  • F3: The 78,800-share option was fully vested and exercisable as of June 8, 2026.
• Transaction codes: M = option exercise, F = payment of exercise price/tax via share withholding.

Context

• This appears to be a cashless/net share settlement of option exercises (shares withheld to cover the exercise price and taxes), not an open-market sale to a third party. Such withholding is routine and does not necessarily signal a change in insider sentiment.
• The Form 4 was filed several days after the reported transaction date; Form 4s are generally required within two business days, so this filing appears late based on the provided dates.