Hamamatsu Photonics Shares Fall as Toyota Looks to Sell Stake

By Megumi Fujikawa

TOKYO--Shares of Hamamatsu Photonics fell on plans by its shareholder Toyota Motor to sell its stake in the company.

The stock declined as much as 4.4% to 3,713 yen ($25.40) Monday morning, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index's 0.4% gain.

Hamamatsu Photonics said after market close on Friday that Toyota plans to sell its entire stake, which amounts to nearly 5% of Hamamatsu Photonics' outstanding shares, or about Y27 billion based on the current price.

The optical sensor and electronic parts maker said it​ plans to make a secondary offering and set the selling price using a closing price between Sept. 9 and 11.

Some analysts said the sale by Toyota isn't a surprise given its effort to unwind its cross-shareholding.

However, given Hamamatsu Photonics' recent share price weakness, the timing appears peculiar, said Sumeet Singh of Aequitas Research who publishes on Smartkarma.

Shares of Hamamatsu are 35% lower year-to-date.

Write to Megumi Fujikawa at megumi.fujikawa@wsj.com