i agree. more likely the auditing took longer, and so the ticker change request was delayed by the company. i have gone back tonight and looked at old posts, quotes from RO about the process. in every instance i saw, RO stated the ticker change and filings would happen at the same time. it makes sense they need to be synchronized.
i was in a stock several years ago that did a name ticker change. it took forever. i called my broker, they kept saying "it looks like it's in progress (which others here reported from their brokers) but the company has to make it official with us".
i kept calling, kept getting the same reply - it was the company who had the last word in the process, and they were delaying it, for whatever reason. finally it happened, and finra immediately posted the change. two days later i had my shares in my brokerage account under the new ticker.
it can happen that way here, too.