ENTA—Can this indicate that there will be a proxy fight and [CEO, Jay Luly] needs the share count even though 250K is not a lot?
I do not infer that. As you said, the number of shares involved (about 380K*) wouldn’t make much difference in the outcome of a proxy fight.
Rather, the two executives (CEO and CSO) who exercised shares and held simply have a strong conviction that the share price is going higher based on inside information; the inside information may concern a potential buyout offer or a deal involving some kind of equity purchase. As previously noted, exercising shares while possessing such inside information is completely legal.
*The number of options recently exercised and held by the CEO and CSO combined.
“The efficient-market hypothesis may be the foremost piece of B.S. ever promulgated in any area of human knowledge!”