Cannell Capital Increases Exposure to Small-Caps with Health Insurance Innovations Inc (HIIQ)

J. Carlo Cannell’s Cannell Capital has disclosed a new position in Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) in a recent Form 3 filing. The firm reported indirect investments in Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) with 533,948 class A common shares through Tristan Partners, L.P and 255,387 class A shares through Tristan Offshore Fund, Ltd. This is not the only small cap stock in Cannell’s portfolio as it also initiated new stakes in Genesis Healthcare Inc (NYSE:GEN), Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE), Ring Energy Inc (NYSEMKT:REI) during the first quarter of 2015.

J. Carlo Cannell established the fund in 1992 with his personal investment of $600,000. The investment manager targets primarily small-cap companies with a value-oriented and neutral approach with respect to the market. Cannell Capital boasts an equity portfolio of $319.86 million, as reported in its latest 13F filing with the SEC. The major investment areas of the fund manager include information technology followed by consumer discretionary and utilities & communication sector.

Carlo Cannell

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Recently, the founder of Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) a Tampa-base health insurance seller, Michael Kosloske, has stepped down from the position of President leaving the chair in the hands of Patrick McNamee. Among analysts, the stock of Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) has received an average “Buy” rating with one year average price target of $8.17 indicating an upside of more than 60% from its current share prices. Joe Huber‘s Huber Capital Management and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management are among the major shareholders of Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ).

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In its 13F filing for the reporting period ended March 31, 2015, Cannell reported a new position in Genesis Healthcare Inc (NYSE:GEN) with 1.49 million shares valued at $10.58 million. Genesis is a healthcare group, which has recently announced the acquisition of 24 nursing facilities of Revera Inc. for $240 million along with the contract rehabilitation business of the latter. The deal involves the real estate of 20 of these facilities and a long-term lease agreement with Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE:HCN) for the remaining four facilities. This transaction will help Genesis Healthcare Inc (NYSE:GEN) maintain a strong foot in its primary markets including Northeast, Washington, and New Jersey. The stock ot the post-acute care provider company has lost 24.12% year-to-date and it has market cap of $1.03 billion.

Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE) is another new pick of Cannell Capital, which disclosed holding 424,047 shares valued at $2.18 million. The stock of the $420 million social business platform provider has declined by 6.50% year-to-date. Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE) disappointed the market with its recent quarterly  results, which included a loss of $0.1 per share, versus the estimates of  a loss of $0.01. Analysts are expecting a loss of $0.16 per share for the current fiscal quarter. The stock of Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE) has received an average rating of “Hold” with a 12-month price target of $6.38. Ahmet Okumus’s Okumus Fund Management and Raging Capital Management are among some of the primary stockholders of Jive Software Inc (NASDAQ:JIVE).

Cannell Capital initiated a stake in Ring Energy Inc (NYSEMKT:REI) with 150,004 shares, valued at $1.59 million. The energy company has done fairly well in 2015 with its stock rising 14.86% year-to-date. Ring Energy Inc (NYSEMKT:REI) has recently completed an underwritten public stock offering of 4.5 million shares at a price of $11.50 per unit., with net proceeds totalling around $49 million. In addition, last month the company announced the purchase of 14,000 net acres of property in Delaware Basin with a working interest of 98% and net revenue interest amounting to 78%. Marc Lisker, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSDC Management and David Zusman‘s Talara Capital Management are two other investors with significant stakes in Ring Energy Inc (NYSEMKT:REI) as of the end of March.

Disclosure: none