In a Schedule 13G filing, Point72 Asset Management L.P. reported owning 6.88 million shares of Rice Energy Inc. (NYSE:RICE), which constitute 5.0% of the company’s outstanding shares. Steven Cohen’s family office owned 1.23 million shares of the independent natural gas and oil company at the end of September. The company engages in the exploration and development of natural gas, oil and NGL properties in the Appalachian Basin, and operates in two businesses: exploration and production, and midstream. Numerous hedge fund managers have been seeking strong and safe bets on the crude oil industry, mainly focusing on companies which have large piles of cash, cost advantages, and capacity to deal with sizable debt loads. Rice Energy Inc. (NYSE:RICE)’s long-term debt totaled $1.52 billion at the end of September, while its cash reached $216.08 million. However, the company has $524.6 million available under its Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility as of September 30, so Rice Energy is well-positioned to tackle the current environment.
Meanwhile, the company generated total operating revenue of $366.06 million for the nine months that ended September 30, an increase of $104.5 million year-over-year, mainly due to an increase in gathering, compression, and water service revenue. The increase in natural gas, oil and NGL production, mainly as a result of an increase in drilling and completion activity in Washington County, Pennsylvania and Belmont County, Ohio, also positively impacted the operating revenue figure. A total of 23 hedge funds monitored by Insider Monkey were invested in Rice Energy at the end of the third quarter, having accumulated 22% of the company’s total shares. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC was heavily invested in Rice Energy Inc. (NYSE:RICE) at the end of the third quarter, holding 11.36 million shares as of September 30.
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As disclosed by a separate 13G filing, Stephen Feinberg’s Cerberus Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake of 578,781 shares in Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT), which represents 5.4% of the company’s outstanding shares. The home furnishings marketing, design and logistics company has operated in a vibrant and improving business environment in recent years, thanks to the recovery of the housing market and housing-related industries. Hooker Furniture reported net sales of $186.43 million for the 39 weeks that ended November 1, up from $179.45 million reported for the same period of the prior year. Most importantly, the company’s operating margin increased to 9.5% from 7.0% year-over-year. Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT)’s shares have advanced by over 50% in the last year. For that reason, the stock trades at a rather expensive forward P/E multiple of 17.43 (relative to the broader market, as the forward P/E ratio for the S&P 500 Index stands at 15.89). However, the average forward P/E for home improvement retailers equals 19.0, so the stock might still have more room to run given that it does not appeared to be overvalued amongst its peers. Neil Chriss’ Hutchin Hill Capital acquired an 11,400-share stake in Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) during the July-to-September period.
