QEP Resources Prices Secondary Offering

QEP Resources Inc. (NYSE: QEP) saw its shares move down handily on Monday following the pricing of its secondary offering. The company said that it would price 33 million shares of its common stock at $10 per share, with an overallotment option for an additional $4.95 million shares. At this price the company expects the entire offering to be valued up to $379.5 million, before discounts and expenses.

The sole underwriters for this offering are Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. The sale of the common stock is expected to settle on March 3, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

For some background on the company: QEP is a leading independent natural gas and crude oil exploration and production company focused in two geographic regions: the Northern Region (primarily the Rockies and the Williston Basin) and the Southern Region (primarily Texas and Louisiana) of the United States.
[nativounit]
The company expects to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include reducing indebtedness, acquiring properties and funding a portion of the company’s exploration and production activities.

So far in 2016, QEP has underperformed the broad markets, with the stock down over 20% year to date. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is down more than 50%.

Shares of QEP were trading down 8.6% at $9.83 on Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $17.08 and a 52-week trading range of $8.54 to $24.04.