Sears' stock soars after biggest shareholders boost stake

Shares of Sears Holding Corp. shot up 9.7% toward a 2-month high in afternoon trade Monday, after the troubled department store chain's largest shareholder disclosed that he bought more shares over the past few sessions. That came after the retailer's second-largest shareholder also boosted its stake. Chief Executive Edward Lampert said disclosed late Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he bought 507,936 shares last week, to increase his stake to 31.84 million shares, or about 29.8% of the shares outstanding. He bought 327.879 shares on Wednesday at an average of $7.829, 178,109 shares at $8.072 and 19,948 shares at $8.3934. Late on Wednesday, Fairholme Capital Management disclosed that it bought 613,900 shares at a weighted average of $8.17 over the past three sessions, to bring the hedge fund's stake to 28.56 million shares, or 26.7% of the shares outstanding. The stock, on track to close at the highest level since Jan. 24, has gained 0.3% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 6.4% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.6%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.