Tyson leader earns $5.7M in stock sales
John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods, gained 164,450 shares of the company Wednesday.
Tyson, grandson of the founder of the company, sold 335,550 shares at $41.30 a share, totaling about $13.9 million. He also exercised stock options for 500,000 additional shares of Tyson Foods at $16.35 a share.
The transaction was reported Thursday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The stock options were part of Tyson's compensation in previous years. The 500,000 shares that Tyson could buy at $16.35 would have expired in November.
Before taxes and other fees, Tyson netted about $5.7 million.
Tyson owned about 1.9 million shares in the company before the transaction. His total is now up to about 2 million, with a market value of about $86.4 million at the close of business Thursday.
-- Claire Williams
Natural Grocers sets Little Rock location
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage is coming to Little Rock. The specialty retailer of natural and organic groceries and dietary supplements has taken out a building permit for a new store at 9210 N. Rodney Parham Road worth $1.7 million.
The Lakewood, Colo.-based grocery company operates about 100 stores in 17 states, and it plans to open 17 stores in fiscal 2015 and 22 stores in fiscal 2016. Stores range from 5,000 to 16,000 square feet of sales-floor space; new stores average about 12,000 square feet for shopping.
About one-quarter of the stores' inventory is dedicated to dietary supplements.
Natural Grocers provide free nutrition education, including a nutritional health coach in every store, to encourage customers to improve their health.
-- Cyd King
Index tumbles 5.26 as 15 firms decline
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 5.26 to 346.47 Friday.
Fifteen stocks declined and three advanced.
Shares of USA Truck climbed 1.5 percent in light trading.
ArcBest lost 3.1 percent in average trading.
Dillard's dropped 2.6 percent and hit a 52-week low.
Home BancShares reached a 52-week high.
For the week, 11 stocks declined and seven advanced.
Windstream had the best week, rising 16.3 percent.
Murphy USA tumbled 9.1 percent for the week.
Total volume of the index was 24.1 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 30.8 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 08/08/2015