Shares in GameStop (NYSE:GME) fell in premarket trading Monday after "Roaring Kitty," the stock influencer behind GME's meme stock surges, disclosed a stake in online pet food retailer Chewy (NYSE:CHWY).
GameStop stock was down more than 6% at the time of writing.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Roaring Kitty, whose real name is Keith Gill, has acquired a 6.6% stake in CHWY, or more than 9 million shares, sending the company’s shares surging more than 19% Monday.
The filing follows a cryptic social media post by Gill featuring a picture of a dog, which had already driven Chewy's shares to nearly a one-year high last Thursday.
The move makes Gill Chewy’s third-largest shareholder, according to FactSet, with a stake valued at over $245 million based on Friday’s closing price.
Gill, a well-known advocate of GameStop, has been actively influencing trading in the video game retailer in recent months. In mid-June, he disclosed holding 9.001 million GameStop shares after closing out his large call options position. It remains unclear if he sold his GameStop holdings to finance his investment in Chewy.
In a related development, reports on Monday revealed that Gill is facing securities fraud allegations in a class-action lawsuit related to recent social media posts that caused volatile price swings in GME stock between May and June.
The complaint, filed on June 28 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, accuses Gill of orchestrating a “pump and dump” scheme through a series of social media posts starting on May 13.
The lawsuit claims that Gill engaged in securities fraud by failing to adequately disclose his purchases and sales of GameStop options, allegedly misleading his followers and resulting in financial losses for some investors.
Plaintiff Martin Radev, represented by the law firm Pomerantz, claims he suffered losses from the alleged “pump and dump” scheme after purchasing 25 shares of GameStop and three call options beginning in mid-May.