Aerovate Therapeutics Stock Bucks Broader Market Sell-Off Over Dividend Announcement: Stock Rises But Retail’s Unmoved

Shares of biotechnology company Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc. (AVTE) rose by over 1% on Monday morning after the company announced that it expects to declare a cash dividend in the range of $67.6 – $69.6 million in the aggregate, higher than the $65 million announced in October.

The company said the dividend is in connection with the company’s previously announced merger with Jade Biosciences and will be paid to pre-merger Aerovate stockholders. It added that nearly 29 million shares of the company were outstanding as of April 4.

The company said the official declaration of the cash dividend will be subject to the approval of Aerovate's board of directors and is expected to be announced later this month. Once approved, the cash dividend will be paid in connection with the merger’s closing.

The closing of the merger between Jade Biosciences and Aerovate is subject to approval by Aerovate’s stockholders and is expected to occur no later than April 30.

Aerovate and privately-held Jade Biosciences announced they entered a definitive merger agreement for an all-stock transaction in October.

The resulting entity from the merger, it said, will operate under the name Jade Biosciences and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “JBIO.”

Aerovate, in October, had said that the company expects to declare a cash dividend to pre-marger company stockholders, distributing excess net cash. However, the company had then pegged it at approximately $65 million.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment about Aerovate continues to be in the ‘neutral’ territory coupled with ‘extremely low’ message volume over the past 24 hours.

Aerovate Therapeutics shares are down by nearly 6% this year and by about 90% over the past 12 months.

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