Southwestern Energy's Stock Falls After Launching Share Offering

Southwestern Energy Co.'s stock slumped 4.3% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the energy company said it was selling 75 million new shares of its common stock to the public. The company plans to use the proceeds to pay down its debt. The company granted the underwriters of the offering, led by Credit Suisse Securities, options to buy up to an additional 11.25 million shares. With 392.7 million shares outstanding, according to FactSet, the offering would increase the shares outstanding by 19%. The stock had rocketed 95% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 had slipped 0.4%.