More than a quarter of Abundant's shares are coming out of escrow in April

Over a quarter of Abundant Produce’s shares comes out of escrow at the end of April.

The fruit and vegetable seed designer says 21.4 million shares come out of escrow on April 26, a volume that accounts for 28 per cent of its total share register.

Abundant (ASX:ABT) listed two years ago so the shares may be owned by company directors — although the company has not yet said whether that’s the case.

Escrow is a period when shareholders are not allowed to trade the stock they own.

For company directors this is for the two years after a company lists. Major shareholders can also choose to put their shares into escrow for a period of time.

The threat of a large volume of stock suddenly coming onto the market can depress a company’s share price.

For example, note the first dip in the chart below: that took place just after Abundant announced on April 3, 2017, that 7.6 million shares would be released from escrow.