By Tomi Kilgore
Shares of National CineMedia Inc. rallied Wednesday, after movie theater operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. disclosed that it acquired a large stake in the cinema advertising network operator.
In a 13G filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday, AMC /zigman2/quotes/200235402/composite AMC -1.28% said it owned 5.95 million shares of National CineMedia /zigman2/quotes/210013369/composite NCMI -2.31% , or 6.8% of the shares outstanding. That would make AMC the third largest shareholder, according to data provided by FactSet.
The 13G filing implies a passive investment , which suggests AMC doesn’t intend to make changes at the company.
National CineMedia’s stock shot up as much as 21.4% intraday, before paring gains to be up 6.1% in morning trading. It has now gained 8.5% amid a three-day win streak, since it closed at a record low of $1.42 on Friday and Thursday.
Based on current prices, the shares AMC now owns would be valued at about $9.2 million.
Meanwhile, AMC’s “meme” stock climbed 7.5% in morning trading, and has soared 33.8% since closing at a one-year low of $10.37 on May 11.
Over the past 12 months, National CineMedia’s stock has plunged 66.3%, while AMC shares have slipped 1.1% and the S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.30% has declined 2.9%.
The disclosure of AMC’s investment in a cinema advertising company may not be such a surprise for investors, especially when compared with the disclosure two months ago of an investment in Hycroft Mining Holding Corp . /zigman2/quotes/202142052/composite HYMC -0.76% , which is a gold and silver miner.
Days before the Hycroft investment was announced, the miner’s stock had closed at a record low of 29 cents. It traded down 0.8% Wednesday morning at $1.33.








