Now to go into the shares the float so bandied about and institutional shareholders as well as insider shares held and just what can be done about it which is so obvious. It is the most obvious thing that is hyped and misinterpreted about this entire thing. The insider ownership which is important to note as it just tells someone that they are not going to pee in their own corn flakes for one, not that it should have come to anyone's mind except to sew seeds of fear and doubt in people. At the top of the list David and Elise Jaffe, collectively own 21.8 million shares (11.1%) of ASNA. Now there mother was the founder of Dress Barn and David Jaffe is a board member.John L. Welborn, a managing director at Stadium Capital Management which holds 19.2 million (9.8%) shares now if you don't think for that those two alone as board members with David's sister included will not make sure this goes well for stakeholders, I have a bridge to sell you.
You can bet your bottom dollar those two's number 1 focus the last and future 6 months has been on one thing above all. Making the right decisions as they have and making it come out smelling like a rose for shareholders. Other shareholders which should not be forgotten or thought of as not having put some serious though into the situation are the institutional shareholders. The top 10 of which are
BlackRock, Inc..............25,919,983.....13.1%
GOLDEN GATE PRIVATE EQUITY..17,468,570.....8.83%
Dimensional Fund Advisors...15,502,339.....7.83%
Nomura Holdings, Inc........15,105,247.....7.63%
The Vanguard Group..........13,652,497.....6.9%
Sapience Investments, LLC...10,395,417.....5.25%
PRIMECAP MANAGEMENT..........6,663,000.....3.36%
Renaissance Technologies.....5,881,240.....2.97%
Atom Investors Lp............5,872,804.....2.96%
SCHWAB CHARLES
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC....5,266,883.....2.66%
STATE STREET CORP............ 4,886,334....2.47%
Now I here the there is a 150 million share float this will never get back over a dollar without a RS, either naive, dumb or liars, one of the three should cover it.
Now yes the float is technically 150 million shares give or take, but, that is not what I call myself the true float. The true float is not a known entity at any given time but one can get an approximate guess by looking at institutional shareholders Q filings back to back. Now when all the negativity started and it was obvious that Ascena had to and would be making some big changes many retail shareholders fled, some didn't majority probably did, some came in and that is when they personally started their ASNA journey, I and mine are some of the late late comers to the party. We watch and see what falls out fo the tree, then we dig through the roots and find out all there is to know, and we did. And thus we started out journey. Now in the lasy Q filing by institutions and funds it shows that some did leave and some trimmed out a little bit, mostly smaller funds to medium sized funds bailed larger trimmed many added and one started a position for over 5 million shares.
Of those that sold out there were many but the amount of shares for the number of them was insignificant. Lets start with the sellers then move to the adders and starters.
Sold Out Positions.....43.....5,096,048
Decreased Positions.....93.....19,145,550 shares
New Positions.....13.....8,081,899 shares
Increased Positions.....61.....21,788,253 shares
So those adding or starting positions although smaller in number took out even more of the what I call true float institutional holdings went up 5,628,554 after the company announced it would have to do some adjusting and sales and closures would be taking place. They did did the right thing before then by paying forward to 2020 their interest payment on debt, but, that didn't stop the town criers and the purveyors of gloom and doom. They worked their magic shorted the heck out of it, leaked false misleading nonsense to the media the rest was taken care of by the smaller market players, the flippers, the short groups etc.
So yes technically the float is 150 million or there about, but, that doesn't mean the float IS 150 million or anywhere near it. And going forward as the muddy clears and the days get just a little brighter the stock will do as it should as the "real" market will take over, and when a pissing contest occurs in the big sandbox you want to steer clear, just saying. Many smaller funds in my opinion and experience over the years did so to add back lower, take the short loss for adding back the bottom and adding the rise with the positive things as they unfold, its how it happens. Will they all probably not, they like a lot of traders are in and out and have a new pretty girl on their arm by now, but many will and many funds will add back trimmed share its just how its done like it is with anyone's own personal account. Best to keep your head down while all the firing is going on. Now going forward and a little matter of the Lane Bryant/Catherine's sale going through and shares.
