Reuters / Brendan McDermid
- Beyond Meat's post-initial public offering expired on October 29, 2019.
- Since then, early investors have rushed to sell shares. Beyond Meat has traded up about 200% from its May IPO price of $25.
- Here's how much six early investors sold their shares for when they cashed in, according to SEC filings.
- Watch Beyond Meat trade live on Markets Insider.
When Beyond Meat's post-initial public offering expired on October 29, the company's stock fell 24% as roughly 48 million shares suddenly became eligible to trade on the market.
In the weeks since, the post-IPO lockup expiration has continued to add downward pressure on shares of the plant-based meat alternatives company. The stock has fallen an additional 6% percent from October 29 through Monday's close.
That's in part because of a flurry of selling from insiders and early investors looking to cash out. Even though Beyond Meat has fallen more than 67% since its record high of $234.90 in July, shares are still up about 200% from the May IPO price of $25.
In addition, the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins - Beyond Meat's largest shareholder - reduced the size of its stake in the company by 2.1 million shares. This means it now holds about 8.1% of the company, according to Bloomberg.
Even though the post-IPO lockup expiry has weighed on shares, it doesn't necessarily spell disaster for the company.
"Should the stock sell off further following the IPO lock-up expiry, the risk/ reward could skew to the upside from here," Bernstein's Alexia Howard wrote in a note on October 29, the day of the expiration.
She has a price target of $106 and an "overweight" rating on the company, citing the potential for a sales boost if McDonald's decides to roll out a burger with a Beyond patty in the US. Wall Street's consensus price target for Beyond is $106.19, and the company has three "buy" ratings, eight "hold" ratings, and four "sell" ratings, according to Bloomberg data.
One prominent shareholder who will not be selling additional shares soon is CEO Ethan Brown. In an interview with Bloomberg, Brown said he wasn't selling because he's "entirely focused on the long term."
Here are the amounts six insiders publicly disclosed selling for when they cashed in their Beyond Meat shares that became eligible to trade after the post-IPO lockup expiration: