A123 shares sink as lock-up period ends

ranchgirl

Shares in A123 Systems Inc. sank Monday as the lock-up agreement expired for insiders holding a majority of the company’s common stock.

The agreement’s expiration, which comes six months after A123’s $371 million IPO in September, enables company insiders — early investors, employees and directors — to sell shares in the Watertown, Mass., lithium battery maker.

By late morning, shares in A123 (Nasdaq: AONE) were down nearly 6 percent, hovering around $14 a share. By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent.

The company's shares remained down roughly 6 percent throughout the day's trading session.

In spite of a December rally that pushed shares up to about $22, the company’s shares now trade at roughly half their post-IPO peak of $28.20 reached in October.

Trading volume surpassed 2.9 million shares Monday morning — roughly double the company’s average daily trading volume of 1.53 million shares since the IPO. The 71.1 million shares freed up for trading Monday represent nearly 70 percent of A123’s market cap.