It's not unusual from my experience to see a closing date announced. They are after all, under contract to close the loan by that date. As far as selling shares in to the hype or pump, we just haven't seen that so that argument doesn't hold water. If there was no intention of closing on time they would certainly be dumping like mad and that just isn't/hasn't happened.
"Sort of" is such a harmless thing to say. "Sort of". It's just a filler. "Sort of" - It doesn't really mean anything. But after certain things, "sort of" means everything. Like after "I love you" or "You're going to live" or "It's a boy".