Express Unloading More Shares of Stock (EXPR)

Yet another round of insider selling is coming down the pipe.  This time it is from clothing and apparel retailer Express, Inc. (NYSE: EXPR).  The company announced that insiders and shareholders have filed their intent to sell some 16 million shares of common stock in a public offering.

While no price has yet been set, the book-runners of the syndicate are listed as BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley, and Piper Jaffray.  Express’ filing also indicated that these selling holders will allocate another 2.4 million shares of common stock as an overallotment option to these underwriters.

Investors won’t count this as true dilution, but it will significantly add to the free float as the company itself will not receive any proceeds from the secondary offering.

The closing price of $21.79 generates almost $350 million in proceeds versus a market capitalization rate of $1.93 billion.  Shares fell 3% to $21.11 in the after-hours trading period on the news and the 52-week trading range is $15.39 to $24.02.