What's Going On With Under Armour's Stock Today?

Under Armour Inc (NYSE: UA) investors have had a rough year, especially as the company was consistently a favorite name among short sellers.

However, investors can breath a sigh of relief as Under Armour's stock isn't trading lower by 16 percent this morning - as might seem to be the case based on a quote from Google Finance.

Under Armour announced on November 28 it planned on changing the ticker symbols of its Class A Common Stock and Class C Common Stock and these changes came into effect Wednesday morning.

Under Armour's Class A Common Stock will change from the familiar "UA" ticker to "UAA." The ticket symbol for the Class C Common stock will now trade under the "UA" ticker from its prior "UA.C" ticker.

What Is A Class C Stock?

In a letter to investors on June 15, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank explained that the company's Board authorized the creation of a new class of non-voting Class C common stock which will be distributed to investors through a stock dividend to all investors.

Each shareholder of Under Armour's common stock will receive one new share of the non-voting stock in what was effectively a two-for-one stock split.

"These non-voting shares will give us a new form of currency for corporate uses, including equity-based employee compensation and stock-based acquisitions," Plank explained. "The change will also allow me the flexibility of selling these non-voting shares of Under Armour over time while maintaining our founder-led approach.

"One thing to keep in mind is that immediately after the Class C dividend, all stockholders, including me, will retain the same voting interests they hold prior to the dividend. The dividend is designed to maintain our governance structure over the long-term, not result in any immediate changes to any stockholder's voting power."