After filing for an initial public offering in May, late last month BJ’s Wholesale Club announced an IPO of 37.5 million shares of common stock at $17 per share, raising $637.5 million. The company now trades under the ticker symbol “BJ” on the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock closed yesterday at $23.75.
BJ’s presence on the stock market marks a seven-year absence, when in 2011 Leonard Green & Partners and CVS Capital Partners took the company private via a $2.8 million buyout. At the time, BJ’s operated 190 warehouses. It now has 215 stores in 16 states.