Keurig Green Mountain Pops on S&P 500 Invite

Shares of Keurig Green Mountain (NASDAQ:GMCR) cruised 3% higher Monday morning  as Wall Street cheers the company’s invitation to join the S&P 500.

Late Friday, McGraw Hill Financial’s (NYSE:MHFI) S&P Dow Jones Indices said the coffee company will replace oil and gas exploration and production company WPX Energy (NYSE:WPX) in the prestigious index.

The move will take effect after the close of trading on March 21 and will likely force portfolio managers who track the S&P 500 to buy shares of Waterbury, Vt.-based Keurig Green Mountain.

Last week,Keurig Green Mountain announced plans to expand its lineup of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) single-serve products in return for ending the coffeehouse chain’s exclusivity deal.

The changes come after Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) acquired a 10% stake in Green Mountain for $1.25 billion in February and announced plans to market a new at-home beverage system created by the coffee roaster.

Keurig Green Mountain shares rallied 3.31% to $117.00 in premarket trading Monday morning, putting them on track to extend their 2014 surge of 50%.

S&P also announced biotech company Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) is replacing utility  provider American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) in the S&P 100.