This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Sep 19 – QuantumScape (NYSE:QS) stock climbed about 18% in regular trading on Thursday, following disclosure of insider stock activity.
Director Jeffrey B. Straubel exercised 130,067 options at $2.377 on Sept. 12 and sold 157,180 shares at an average price near $9.20 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transactions generated about $1.45 million in proceeds, filings show.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hettrich sold 9,800 shares at $9.20 on Sept. 12, yielding about $90,160 and leaving him with 1,601,267 shares, the filings show.
Chief Legal Officer Michael O. McCarthy III sold 38,035 shares at $9.13 on Sept. 12 for about $347,260, leaving 1,397,382 shares.
Shares closed at $12.13 on Thursday and traded at $12.83 after hours. The stock has gained 105% over the past year and sits within a 52-week range of $3.40 to $15.03.
QuantumScape makes next-generation solid-state batteries, a technology that replaces liquid electrolytes with a solid material to improve energy density and safety.
The company has a market capitalization of about $6.9 billion and average daily volume near 26 million.
Momentum metrics pushed the price higher after the Form 4 disclosures, though the filings reflect routine, planned sales rather than company guidance. The moves appear to reflect investor interest in solid-state battery progress.
Based on the one year price targets offered by 8 analysts, the average target price for QuantumScape Corp is $6.22 with a high estimate of $11.00 and a low estimate of $2.50. The average target implies a downside of -48.68% from the current price of $12.13.
