Rice Energy Falls Following Share Offering Announcement

Shares of Rice Energy RICE were trading lower by more than 3 percent early Wednesday morning after the company announced the pricing of an up-sized public offering of its common stock.

Rice Energy announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 29.86 million shares of its stock at a price of $16.35. The company previously intended to offer 20.0 million shares.

Rice Energy stated it plans on using the proceeds to acquire Marcellus and Utica assets in central Greene County, Pennsylvania from Alpha Natural Resources for $200 million. If the acquisition is not finalized, the company said it will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes which may consist of funding a portion of its 2017 capital budget.

The stock traded recently at $16.57, down 0.5 percent in the pre-market session.