Hawaiian stock falls after CEO cuts stake

Hawaiian Holdings Inc.'s stock has slipped 16.1 percent from a 52-week high since the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday that Hawaiian Airlines' chief executive sold half of his holdings.

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's president and chief executive officer, sold 233,570 shares Friday in his first sale since joining the company in 2002.

However, he remains heavily invested in the company he runs, owning 225,000 shares plus options to buy 1.59 million shares.

Dunkerley, who is restricted from selling shares of common stock except during specific trading windows, chose to sell last week for personal financial- planning reasons, the company said in a statement yesterday.

Bob McAdoo, a senior research analyst at Avondale Partners LLC, in Nashville, Tenn., said yesterday Dunkerley's transaction was relatively small compared to the total volume, which has risen since the demise of Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines.

On Friday, 947,432 shares changed hands; volume has ranged between 1.4 million and 1.6 million a day so far this week.

"In today's environment with the fortunes of the company having improved dramatically, a lot of new investors are paying attention to the company," McAdoo said. "Clearly people rushed in, bought stock and made money and now some of them are leaving."

The stock, which closed at $6 the day Aloha ceased passenger operations on March 31, closed at $8.46 on both Friday and Monday, before slipping to $7.43 Tuesday and $7.10 yesterday.

Meanwhile, RC Aviation LLC, an investor group formed by Ranch Capital to buy shares of Hawaiian's common stock in 2004 and finance its reorganization plan the year later, is being dissolved.

As a result, RC Aviation and its manager RC Aviation Management LLC have distributed 2.71 million of its 4.27 million shares of Hawaiian's common stock to individual members of the investor group.