Academy insiders to sell shares amid rise
The major inside shareholders at Academy Sports and Outdoors are preparing to sell as many as 13.8 million shares, taking advantage of a steep rise in the Katy retailer’s stock price since its October debut.
Funds affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which control 67.7 percent of the company’s stock, plan to sell between 10.3 million and 11.9 million shares, reducing its stake to no less than 54.6 percent. Members of the family of founder Max Gochman plan to sell up to 611,000 shares, reducing their stake to no less than 8.45 percent.
The company is not selling any shares as part of the offering, which a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said would be priced at proposed maximum of $22.16. At that price, KKR could see as much as $264 million and the Gochman descendants $13.6 million.
Shares of Academy closed at $22.08, down 9.1 percent in Wednesday trading. Trading was particularly active, with 3 million shares trading hands. Volume had only cracked 1 million shares four times previously this month.
Academy began trading Oct. 2, a day in which the markets were roiled by news that then-President Donald Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus and a mixed jobs report. The Nasdaq, where
Academy trades, ended the day down 2.2 percent and the S&P 500 was down 0.96 percent.
The offering came out at $13 a share, lower than the planned $15 to $17 a share. Ken Hicks, the company’s chief executive, said at the time that the lower price had much to do with the fact that initial investors couldn’t travel as they normally would, due to the pandemic, to see how Academy differed from the competition.
“A lot of the people who create the markets didn't get a chance to see our stores,” he said. The company closed its first trading day at $12.99. “Based upon the market situation,” he said, “I felt pretty good about where we ended up for the day.”
In December, the company reported a $59.6 million profit (74 cents per diluted share) for the third quarter ended Oct. 31, compared to $28.6 million (38 cents) during the same period in 2019. Revenues soared 18 percent to $1.35 billion from $1.15 billion in the third quarter of 2019.