Hedge Funds Are Betting On Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (KOG)

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Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG) was in 22 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. KOG has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 18 hedge funds in our database with KOG holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to watch their holdings. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outperform the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are many incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a glance at the key action encompassing Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG).

Hedge fund activity in Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 22% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG)According to our comprehensive database, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the largest position in Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG), worth close to $100.6 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $45.7 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners and Jacob Doft’s Highline Capital Management.

As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Sigma Capital Management, managed by SAC Subsidiary, initiated the most outsized call position in Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG). Sigma Capital Management had 6.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also made a $6.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new KOG investors: Arvind Sanger’s GeoSphere Capital Management, J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management, and John Burbank’s Passport Capital.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG). These stocks are Pacific Drilling SA (NYSE:PACD), Pengrowth Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE:PGH), SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD), Unit Corporation (NYSE:UNT), and EV Energy Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:EVEP). This group of stocks are in the oil & gas drilling & exploration industry and their market caps are closest to KOG’s market cap.

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