Insider Trading: Steelhead Partners LLC Reduced Its Position in $JRCC

Michael Johnston’s Steelhead Partners LLC filed Form 4 and 13G on October 7th for the insider sales of 563 thousand shares in James River Coal Company (JRCC). According to the Form 4, on October 5th Steelhead Partners made two insider sales against JRCC, including 358 thousand shares at $7.46 and 205 thousand shares at $7.56. Now the firm remains 3.56 million JRCC shares in its portfolio, corresponding to a 9.9% stake ownership. In the second quarter, Steelhead Partners was JRCC’s largest hedge fund stakeholder, with 4.15 million shares, or 11.54% stake. JRCC had an even path before the third quarter, but it slumped after that and has lost about 70% year to date. Steelhead Partners made the transactions when JRCC rallied 3 days after a 2-year low. Now JRCC is trading at $8.00.

Eleven hedge funds had JRCC in their portfolios in the second quarter, based on Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database. After Steelhead Partners, David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management took the second place with 1.73 million shares in JRCC, increasing by 37% from Q1. The rest of the hedge funds had much smaller positions. (You can see their positions here)

Steelhead Partners LLC was founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The firm mainly uses fundamental, balance-sheet-based analysis and an independent thought process to build its portfolio. The firm focuses in long-term and makes investments in various sectors. Based on the recent 13F, the firm has a portfolio value of more than $2.4 billion.

James River Coal Company specializes in mining, processing, and selling bituminous, steam, and industrial grade coal through its six subsidiaries located throughout eastern Kentucky and in southern Indiana. The company had 6 mining complexes, including 18 underground mines, 9 surface mines, and 10 preparation plants by December 31th, 2010. In FY 2010, the company produced 8.8 million tons of coal.