Sotheby's Shares Surge Following News of Increased Stake by Loeb's Third Point

Shares of

have surged about 3 percent in afternoon trade Monday following a 13D filing from Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC. Sotheby's shares are now trading around $47.60. The 13D filing from Third Point showed a brand new 5.7 percent stake, or 3.925M shares, in the art and jewelry auctioneer. The filing also disclosed Loeb intends "to engage in a dialogue with members of the Board or management..." The filing specified the "dialogue" could relate to a possible change in the company's corporate strategy as well as potential leadership changes. Loeb's Third Point had previously shown a 3.66 percent stake, or 2.5 million shares, in Sotheby's. The added shares in Sotheby's now makes Loeb the second largest holder of the company behind BlackRock. Third Point previously had been the seventh largest holder in Sotheby's. Volume in Sotheby's shares spiked substantially following the SEC filing. Prior to the headlines, only around 250,000 shares of Sotheby's had traded; nearly three million shares have now traded in the name.