Director Lewis exercised his remaining 1,500 options yesterday at a 29.91 strike price. The options were scheduled to expire on 5/23/17.
So Lewis chose to put another 45 grand of his cash at risk and pay income taxes on around 21 grand of spread to start the holding period clock and the dividend stream when he could have sat on the options for another 4 years with no cash at risk and no current tax to pay.
Ain't big by itself, but add it to other early exercises. Doesn't matter what the considerations were or whether any factor dominated the decision. Lewis obviously concluded he would be better off financially by putting his cash at risk now, than waiting with no cash or tax risk.
Read the tea leaves. Take the hint.