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AMC’s stock trading came to a brief halt on Wednesday after the company’s stock price rose following a promise to deliver free popcorn to investors, in the latest example of how the frenzy of the “meme trade” is spreading on Wall Street.
Shares soared 93 percent to $ 61.82 per share on Wednesday before retreating, prompting a halt to trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They have increased by more than 450% last month.
Other “meme stocks” like Bed Bath & Beyond and BlackBerry also made big gains on Wednesday.
AMC on Wednesday was the value of the most publicly traded shares on U.S. stock exchanges, according to Bloomberg data tracking companies with market values in excess of $ 500 million, while BlackBerry was the third highest-quoted actively.
AMC’s new Investor Connect program, which will also offer benefits such as invitations to “special screenings”, highlights how the growing power of individual traders is drawing the attention of listed companies and professionals. Wall Street investors.
The memes were put in the spotlight when retail investor trade soared to all-time highs in the first two months of this year, fueled by the messaging tables of the social networking platform Reddit, such as see r / WallStreetBets
Retail investors have entered the market in record numbers since the pandemic occurred, with a volume of retail trade doubling between 2019 and 2021, from less than 10% to more than 20%, according to data from Piper Sandler.
AMC has been one of the key beneficiary groups. Amateur marketers now make up a key cohort of the chain’s overall shareholder base, which owns about 80 percent of the company. More than 3.2 million new individual investors had stakes in the company in March 2021, AMC said Wednesday.
Big investors have also gone through the tide. AMC said Tuesday it sold 8.5 million new shares in the Mudrick Capital Management hedge fund at about $ 27 each, a large premium over AMC’s $ 2 share price late last year . Hours later, Mudrick sold the shares after the news of the fundraiser sent them up to $ 33.53.
Other listed U.S. companies are also considering how to better interact with the new generation of retail shareholders and their growing market power. Shareholder participation events, such as general meetings, were moved online during the pandemic, making it easier for everyday investors to participate and vote.
General meeting operator Lumi said he had noticed a significant increase in the commitment of retail shareholders, both attending general meetings and asking questions and participating in voting. This has been amplified with easy-to-use brokerage platforms, such as Robinhood, that send shareholders via email to notify them of voting deadlines.
“Companies tell us that the demographics of people who attend meetings are different. It’s not the tea and cookie people, “said Richard Taylor, Lumi’s chief executive.” Once you remove the barriers of who can get there, the demographics of who can attend and ask questions change. “
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