Is Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE) worth your attention right now? Hedge funds are taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions inched up by 4 in recent months.
At the moment, there are a multitude of methods shareholders can use to analyze their holdings. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the S&P 500 by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Just as important, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the world of equities. There are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action surrounding Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE).
How have hedgies been trading Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 67% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.
Of the funds we track, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE), worth close to $1.3 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Moore Global Investments, managed by Louis Bacon, which held a $0.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Moore Global Investments, managed by Louis Bacon, assembled the most outsized position in Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE). Moore Global Investments had 0.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management also made a $0.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CPE positions are Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE) has experienced 6 unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE). These stocks are Crimson Exploration Inc. (NASDAQ:CXPO), Miller Energy Resources Inc (NYSE:MILL), Equal Energy Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:EQU), Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR), and Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE:END). This group of stocks are in the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps are similar to CPE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Crimson Exploration Inc. (NASDAQ:CXPO) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Miller Energy Resources Inc (NYSE:MILL) | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Equal Energy Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:EQU) | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:HNR) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE:END) | 8 | 3 | 1 |
With the returns exhibited by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE:CPE) is no exception.
