By Denny Jacob

AMC Entertainment closed its at-the-market equity offering as it works to take down its debt levels, but the timing came amid a renewed frenzy in its stock.

The movie-theater chain in a filing Monday disclosed it completed its offering launched on March 28, raising about $250 million of new equity through the sale of 72.5 million shares at an average price of about $3.45 a share.

AMC shares boomed on Monday and have continued to soar in early trading Tuesday. Leading the meme-stock buying frenzy was Keith Gill, an investor tied to the 2021 meme-stock rally, taking to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, for the first time in nearly three years.

The stock closed Monday up 78% to $5.19, its largest percentage increase since June 2, 2021. The run continued on Tuesday with shares more than doubling in early trading. Shares were recently trading up 84% to $9.51.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said that while he doesn't think the timing of its equity offering closing was important, he noted the chance of a follow-on offering increases.

"They're authorized to do more so they should," said Pachter, though he noted they're not raising that much money in relation to their debt levels.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-14-24 1114ET