JCPenney could be kicked off New York stock exchange as shares slide

JCPenney is at risk of being removed from the New York Stock Exchange because its share price is too low.

The company’s stock fell to 60 cents a share today. To be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, a company’s closing share price must be an average at least $1 over a consecutive 30 day period, according to a statement from JCPenney.

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The department store commonly anchoring malls has six months from the time it received its Aug. 6 letter notifying the company that it’s no longer in compliance with the standard. JCPenney’s close first dipped below $1 in May and has been consistently been below the threshold since mid-July.

The stock price has dropped 48 percent from $1.16 one month ago. It was worth as much as $2.64 in August of last year, dropping 77 percent.

If the price doesn’t rebound on its own, JCPenney will address investors at the next annual meeting of stockholders, considering a reverse stock split of the common stock, according to the statement. A reverse stock split cuts the number of shares on the market, boosting the price of each share.

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Other mall anchors have also fallen from the NYSE, including locally-founded Elder-Beerman, owned by Bon-Ton, which switched trading to OTCQX in November 2017 after it was delisted from NYSE. Four months later the company filed for bankruptcy and all stores were closed by the end of August 2018.

While JCPenney has hired advisers to take “proactive measures” to improve “capital structure and long-term health,” the company maintained in July that it was not planning to file bankruptcy.

“Given our strong liquidity position we can confirm that we have not hired any advisers to prepare for an in-court restructuring or bankruptcy,” a statement said.

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