Axon Enterprise,
a manufacturing company with a $14 billion market value, will replace
First Republic Bank
in the
S&P 500
index on May 4, S&P Dow Jones Indices said late Monday.
First Republic (ticker: FRC) is leaving the index because of its seizure by federal regulators Monday and the sale of the bulk of its assets to
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) made it ineligible for inclusion in the index.
Barron’s wrote earlier Monday that Blackstone (BX), the leading manager of alternative assets, might join the S&P 500 and replace First Republic.
Blackstone recently became eligible for inclusion in the index when S&P Dow Jones Indices relaxed its listing criteria for the S&P 500 and the S&P small and mid-cap indexes to include companies with dual-class stocks. With a market value of over $100 billion, Blackstone is the largest U.S. company that isn’t in the S&P 500.
Given the change in the inclusion criteria, it is a good bet that Blackstone will be included in the S&P 500 sometime this year.
Axon Enterprise (AXON) shares rose 2.5% to $216 in regular trading Monday and were little changed in after-hours activity. Blackstone stock fell 0.7% to $88.75 in regular trading Monday and was off 2% in after-hours trading to $87.
Axon is leaving the S&P mid-cap 400 index and will be replaced by
Stag Industrial
(STAG). First Republic shares didn’t trade Monday.
Write to Andrew Bary at andrew.bary@barrons.com
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