Yet another Wall Street bigwig has been humbled by JCPenney.
New York billionaire Richard Perry disclosed late Monday he dumped nearly half his Penney stake following a slew of surprises from the retailer last week that hammered its stock.
Hedge fund Perry Capital sold 9 million shares Friday in open-market trades at prices ranging from $9.02 to $9.59, according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Those prices are off nearly 50 percent from what Perry paid when he began to accumulate a 19-million share Penney stake this summer, filings show.
Penney shares Monday lost 2.7 percent to close at $8.81, their lowest since the early 1980s.
The stock lost nearly 30 percent of its value last week alone after the company surprised Wall Street by issuing new stock that diluted shareholders by more than a third.
Betting that the flailing chain was poised for a turnaround, Perry paid as high as $18.03 a share in June, according to filings.
Shares of the Plano, Texas, retailer slipped under $18 on June 14 and have closed south of the mark every since.
Perry’s big sale came just a month after raising his ownership stake to 8.6 percent by acquiring 3 million shares from activist investor Bill Ackman — who exited as Penney’s largest shareholder following a bruising battle with the retailer’s board.
On Aug. 30, Perry bought 3 million shares from Ackman at $12.90 a share.
The shares rallied briefly after that day, increasing for five straight days before its latest tumble.