Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Gulfport Energy Corporation (GPOR)?

Is Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR) a buy here? Money managers are taking an optimistic view. The number of long hedge fund bets inched up by 3 lately.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of methods investors can use to monitor the equity markets. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are many stimuli for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a look at the latest action regarding Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR).

Hedge fund activity in Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR)

Heading into Q2, a total of 25 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 14% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the biggest position in Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR), worth close to $162.9 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $112.8 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and David Stemerman’s Conatus Capital Management.

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Conatus Capital Management, managed by David Stemerman, initiated the largest position in Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR). Conatus Capital Management had 35.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Lee Hobson’s Highside Capital Management also made a $24.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new GPOR investors: Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, and John Murphy’s Alydar Capital.

How are insiders trading Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time frame, Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Gulfport Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:GPOR). These stocks are Ultra Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:UPL), SM Energy Co. (NYSE:SM), WPX Energy Inc (NYSE:WPX), Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN), and Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS). This group of stocks belong to the independent oil & gas industry and their market caps resemble GPOR’s market cap.