Seagate Stock, Gulfport Energy, and More See Action From Activist Investors

These disclosures are from 13Ds filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 13Ds are filed within 10 days of an entity’s attaining more than 5% in any class of a company’s securities. Subsequent changes in holdings or intentions must be reported in amended filings. This material is from Sept. 7 through Sept. 13, 2023. Source: VerityData

Increases in Holdings

Anika Therapeutics
(ANIK)

Caligan Partners raised its holding in the orthopedic-focused pharmaceutical firm to 1,081,360 shares. Caligan Partners bought 179,274 Anika Therapeutics shares from Aug. 17 through Sept. 8 at prices ranging from $16.54 to $19.05 each. Caligan Partners now holds 7.4% of Anika Therapeutics’ tradable stock.

This April, Caligan Partners and Anika Therapeutics entered a cooperation agreement that increased the size of the pharmaceutical’s board to eight from seven to accommodate the appointment of Gary Fishetti as an independent director.

Also per the agreement, Anika Therapeutics initiated a $20 million stock-repurchase authorization with $5 million immediately earmarked in April for an accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”).

ModivCare
(MODV)

Coliseum Capital lifted its interest in the nonemergency health-services company to 2,652,535 shares, a stake of 18.7%. In early May, Coliseum Capital reported ownership of 1.6 million ModivCare shares, an 11% stake in the company at the time.

Coliseum has since added to its ModivCare position over the subsequent months as the health-services stock faltered, hitting a new 52-week low of $26.20 earlier this month. Coliseum bought 335,492 ModivCare shares over Sept. 7 and 8, and 213,248 ModivCare shares over Sept. 11 and Sept. 12. Coliseum’s September purchases were made at prices ranging from $26.56 to $29.00 each. The stock has lost a little more than 62% of its value year to date.

Decreases in Holdings

Seagate Technology
(STX)

ValueAct Capital slashed its holding in the maker of hard disk drives to 7,687,070 shares. Without citing a reason, ValueAct sold 5,750,000 Seagate Technology shares through a block trade sale on Sept. 6 at a price of $69 each. ValueAct now owns 3.7% of Seagate’s outstanding stock, well below the 5% threshold that would require any further disclosure of Seagate stock sales. On Sept. 1, former partner Dylan Haggart resigned from ValueAct but remains a director of Seagate. Per a ValueAct investor letter, Haggart wishes to “manage his own investment portfolio.”

Gulfport Energy
(GPOR)

Silver Point Capital sold 800,000 shares of the oil and gas explorer, reducing its stake to 8,065,822 shares. Silver Point executed a block trade sale at $118 apiece on Sept. 5, reducing its interest in Gulfport Energy to 40%, but remains the energy firm’s largest shareholder. Ownership figures include 1,695,929 Gulfport shares that underlie convertible preferred securities. Gulfport Energy stock set a record intraday high of $125.28 on Sept. 13.

In early August, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Tim Rezvan upgraded Gulfport Energy stock to Overweight from Sector Weight, and set a $145 price target. “[W]e believe the company remains undercovered, underappreciated, and undervalued,” Rezvan wrote at the time.

Email: [email protected]

Read the full article here