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Our law firm is continuing to pursue claims against full service brokerage firms on behalf of former and current United Parcel Service (“UPS”) employees for losses sustained as a result of maintaining concentrated, leveraged positions in UPS stock. Many UPS employees who obtained company stock as a form of compensation through UPS’ Employee Stock Purchase Plan or Managers Incentive Program, and later transferred to a full service brokerage firm, were encouraged to take out a “hypothecation loan,” also known as a “hypo loan.” A hypo loan is obtained by pledging securities or other assets as collateral to secure a loan. In this case, the UPS stock served as collateral for the loan. Unfortunately, many UPS employees were never advised of the risks associated with maintaining a hypo loan, including the risk of a margin call. When the price of UPS stock declined in 2008 and into 2009, many UPS employees had their stock liquidated thereby decimating their investment portfolio.
Additionally, in many accounts, the UPS stock represented a concentrated stock position. However, many UPS employees were unaware of the risks associated with owning a concentrated account. Moreover, many brokerage firms failed to explain how the use of risk management strategies, like a zero-cost collar, protective put options, stop loss orders and/or an exchange fund, could have protected the concentrated UPS position.
The effects of margin on a concentrated position substantially increase the risk to the account. Once the account receives a margin call as a result of the decline in share price of the UPS stock, there is a forced liquidation of the stock, which precludes the investor from recovering their losses through a potential rebound in the price of UPS stock. In many cases, had the investor not been on margin, the UPS stock would not have been liquidated to meet the margin call, thereby providing it with an opportunity to recover given that the price of UPS stock came back in value since 2009.