MGP INGREDIENTS ALERT: Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. Announces That a Class Action Lawsuit Has Been Filed Against MGP Ingredients, Inc. and Encourages Investors to Contact the Firm

Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas on behalf of investors that purchased MGP Ingredients, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGPI) securities between February 27, 2019 and February 25, 2020 (the “Class Period”). Investors have until April 28, 2020 to apply to the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Click here to participate in the action.

Beginning in 2015, instead of selling its whiskey as an unaged new distillate, which was then barreled and aged by its customers, MGP started storing significant amounts of barreled distillate that it could later sell as aged whiskey. After four years of aging, the Company was expected to commence selling this aged whiskey in 2019 at three times the price of unaged whiskey.

On May 1, 2019, defendants announced MGP’s first quarter 2019 financial results, including “lighter” than consensus results due to “lower volumes” in sales of aged whiskey, but claimed that MGP was experiencing favorable demand and pricing trends and “confidently confirm[ed]” the Company’s guidance for the remainder of the year. On this news, the price of MGP stock declined nearly 23%.

On July 31, 2019, defendants announced weak second quarter 2019 financial results, again due to poor sales of aged whiskey. In addition, defendants affirmed MGP’s net sales growth guidance, but revised downward their guidance for operating income growth. On this news, the price of MGP stock declined more than 25%.

On October 31, 2019, defendants announced disappointing third quarter 2019 financial results, again due to poor whiskey sales, and blamed the failure to transact aged whiskey sales on customer delays and “funding issues,” but reiterated that MGP remained on track to achieve its revised full-year 2019 guidance.

Following these disclosures, the Company’s stock price declined nearly 12%.

On January 17, 2020, the Company announced its preliminary full-year 2019 financial results, which significantly missed the guidance defendants had reiterated with just two months to go in the year. Following these disclosures, the price of MGP stock declined more than 27% to close at $38.18 per share on January 17, 2020.

Then, on February 26, 2020, the Company announced its finalized full-year 2019 financial results, confirming its previously announced preliminary results, including that it had fallen “significantly short of . . . guidance” due to its failure to sell aged whiskey during the fourth quarter of 2019. The Company also revealed that aged whiskey sales had declined year over year and that it had failed to secure the contracts it had previously highlighted to investors.

On this news, the price of MGP stock declined 11% to close at $28.42 per share on February 26, 2020, which represented a 67% price decline from the stock’s Class Period high of $88.06 per share.

The complaint, filed on February 28, 2020, alleges that during the Class Period defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information concerning MGP’s business and financial condition. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose that MGP had not completed any significant sales of its aged whiskey inventory, the Company had been unable to sell its aged whiskey at the price premium represented to investors, a glut of aged whiskey inventory and shifts in consumer behavior had lowered the value of the Company’s aged whiskey inventory and materially impaired its ability to negotiate significant sales on favorable contract terms, and as a consequence, defendants’ full-year 2019 financial guidance lacked a reasonable basis and was materially misleading. As a result of this information being withheld from the market, the price of MGP common stock was artificially inflated to a high of more than $88 per share during the Class Period.

If you purchased MGP securities during the Class Period, are a long-term stockholder, have information, would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Melissa Fortunato or Marion Passmore by email at investigations@bespc.com, telephone at (212) 355-4648, or by filling out this contact form. There is no cost or obligation to you.

About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:

Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

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