P.A.M. finishes deal to buy back shares
P.A.M. Transportation-Services Inc. has finalized the buyback of 675,000 shares, valued at more than $13.83 million.
Shares of common stock will be purchased from stockholders at a price of $20.50 per share.
P.A.M. announced in December that it would purchase 600,000 shares, but more than 758,864 were made available for the company by stockholders.
Allen West, P.A.M. chief financial officer, said the company was pleased with the results of the buyback and had more shares offered for sale by stockholders than the company had budgeted to purchase.
P.A.M. has the option of repurchasing more stock in the future, but no sooner than Tuesday.
More than 7.9 million shares of P.A.M. stock are outstanding.
Shares of P.A.M. were trading between $20.60 and $20.85 on Tuesday, ending the day at $20.85.
- Chris Bahn
Stone House adds USA Truck shares
Stone House Capital Management LLC of New York has increased its stake in USA Truck Inc. to 1.55 million shares.
Already the largest shareholder in the Van Buren-based trucking firm, Stone House added 50,000 shares in a single purchase. Stone House bought at $12.88 per share, spending about $644,000 on the purchase.
Stone House Capital now owns more than 14 percent of USA Truck, which is protected by a shareholder rights plan that goes into effect once an outside owner acquires a 15 percent stake. USA Shares of USA Truck were trading between $13.20 and $13.74 on Tuesday, ending the day at $13.72.
- Chris Bahn
Trade-deficit news aids Arkansas Index
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 1.60 to 333.23 Tuesday.
“Stocks broke a three session losing streak following a better-than-anticipated report on the U.S.
trade deficit that helped boost optimism ahead of Friday’s closely watched jobs report,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.
“Arkansas stocks followed the broad market trends with 13 issues advancing while three declined and one was unchanged.”
USA Truck jumped almost 5 percent in light trading, Williams said.
Home BancShares continued the sell-off that began late last year, dropping more than 2 percent in active trading, Williams said.
Volume for the index was 20.4 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 25 on 01/08/2014