Sold Gyrodyne Corp. (GYRO)

Today I sold my position in Gyrodyne (GYRO) as it reached my adjusted target of $105 (the original target of $120, adjusted for the 14% dilution of the recent rights issue). It’s not that there isn’t potentially more upside. I think there is. After all, last friday the court rejected the state’s appeal of the Aug. 2010 verdict, so GYRO should be receiving $98 million (the difference between the $27 million they received from the State of New York in 2005 and the $125 million judgement) plus interest at 9%, as well as court costs. But whatever additional upside there is, in my opinion, is not worth the additional risks. What will management do with the proceeds? Will the company be liquidated, in whole or in part, as promised? Or will management not prove as adept at capital allocation as they were at managing the lawsuit? I think that, having captured an easy 57% return over the past 10 months with very little risk, I don’t need to stretch for the additional 10-20% of upside. Besides, there may be some other interesting opportunities if the market continues being so volatile and I’d like to have a bit more dry powder.