The holding company for Abington Savings Bank in Jenkintown, Pa., announced a plan Thursday to convert to a fully stock format.
The news - which one analyst called a "surprise" - sent the company's stock price soaring. It was up 21% late Thursday, to $19.25.
The $906 million-asset Abington Community Bancorp Inc. said it would sell shares of common stock to depositors and the public in conjunction with the second-step conversion.
After the conversion, Abington Community Bancorp would be a savings and loan holding company regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision. It is expected to be completed in the second or third quarter.
Richard D. Weiss, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia, who does not cover Abington but owns some of its stock, said it had formed a mutual holding company in December 2004, and the second step is happening earlier than the usual three years.
"I don't think anyone saw it coming," he said.
