Zhi Qi/Dreamstime.com
Insiders at two retailers recently disclosed large purchases of shares. One stock is hot. The other, not so much.
(ticker: RCII) stock has been on a tear. The provider of lease-to-own furniture, appliances, and other consumer goods saw shares surge 32.8% last year, doubling the 16.3% rise in the
So far this year, Rent-A-Center stock has soared 51.8%, compared with an 9.9% rise in the index.
Meanwhile,
(JOAN), an arts and crafts retailer, has been what is known as a broken IPO because shares at times are trading at less than the $12 price of its March initial public offering. With Joann stock closing at $11.87 Friday, they are 1% under the IPO price.
Jeffrey Brown,
chairman of Rent-A-Center, paid $1.5 million on Feb. 26 for 26,996 shares, an average price of $55.56 each. Brown reported the purchase with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, more than a month after the transaction. Typically, the SEC requires that a purchase or sale of a company’s stock by an executive or director to be reported within two business days. However, in the filing, Brown noted that his report was delayed “due to administrative matters impacting the functioning of the reporting person’s Edgar filing codes.” Edgar is the SEC’s filing system.
Brown purchased the shares through a limited liability company that he controls. The LLC now owns 47,765 Rent-A-Center shares. Excluding shares purchased through dividend reinvestment, Brown’s only other purchase of Rent-A-Center stock on the open market was in May 2020, when he paid $460,118 for 20,000 shares, an average price of $23.01 each. He has been on Rent-A-Center’s board since 2017.
In response to a request to make Brown available for comment on his latest transaction, Rent-A-Center said Brown “does not comment on his personal trading.” Regarding the timing of Brown’s filing, the company referred to the note in Brown’s filing without further comment.
Joann President and CEO Wade Miquelon paid $540,000 on April 6 for 47,550 share, a an average price of $11.36 each. He now owns 102,550 Joann shares. Miquelon was appointed president and CEO in February 2019.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.
