Southwest Gas Corporation (SWX), Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) and Sun Hydraulics Corporation (SNHY) Witness Some Profit-Taking on the Part of Insiders

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE:HP) is another energy-related company that saw some insiders unload shares in recent weeks. Juan Pablo Tardio, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, discarded 12,497 shares on Wednesday at prices between $58.10 and $58.49 per share, cutting his stake to 23,468 shares. Moreover, Chairman Hans Helmerich, former President and Chief Executive of the land drilling company, sold 40,000 shares last Monday at prices ranging from $60.51 to $61.22 per share, all of which were held by a family trust that currently owns 1.57 million shares. Mr. Helmerich exercised 50,000 employee stock options on the same day, with 32,675 shares being sold to cover the exercise price or tax liabilities associated with the freshly-exercised stock options. After these transactions, the Chairman holds a direct ownership stake of 867,204 shares.

The contract drilling company has seen its shares advance by 8% since the beginning of 2016, which might have prompted some insiders to cash out portions of their holdings given the high uncertainty around the crude oil industry. The company’s U.S. Land segment revenues, which accounted for 76% of total operating revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 that ended December 31, were $318.1 million for the quarter, decreasing from $890.0 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. What’s more, Helmerich & Payne’s U.S. land rig utilization decreased to 39% for the first quarter of fiscal 2016, as compared to a whopping 89% in the same quarter of the prior year. The company’s rig utilization rate is anticipated to decrease in the second quarter as well, mainly due to rigs idled in the first quarter that are anticipated to remain idle and other rigs that recently became idle. As of the end of 2015, only 131 rigs of the company’s 345 existing rigs in the U.S. Land segment were contracted. A total of 26 hedge funds monitored by our team were invested in HP at the end of December, amassing 5.30% of the company’s shares. Royce & Associates, founded by Chuck Royce, owns nearly 956,000 shares of Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE:HP) as of December 31.