Hedge Fund Firefly Nominates Two Members to Gulfport’s Board (Reuters)
March 2 (Reuters) – Firefly Value Partners said on Monday it has nominated two candidates to Gulfport Energy Corp’s board, months after the hedge fund asked for a seat and criticized the company’s “half-measures” to improve its financial performance. Firefly, which owns 13.1% stake in the oil and gas company, said Gulfport has suffered more severely than its peers amid falling natural gas prices, because of the board’s failures and bad decisions.
Elliott Reaches Deal With Evergy to Add Two Seats to Board (Bloomberg)
Evergy Inc. reached a settlement with activist investor Elliott Management Corp. that includes appointing two new directors to the utility’s board. The agreement also includes the creation of a special committee to “explore ways to enhance shareholder value,” the Kansas City-based company said Monday in a statement. Evergy shares rose 3% before the start of regular trading in New York.
Altos Capital Launches Flagship Hedge Fund (Hedge Week)
Trader Jeff Tompkins has launched his flagship hedge fund, Altos Capital. The main objective of the fund is to outperform the S&P. Tompkins makes investment decisions based principally on trend and volatility analysis available to the firm through proprietary research and modelling systems, including advanced charting software and market momentum data. Altos Capital will primarily utilise a proprietary trading strategy based upon an algorithm of momentum and volatility studies, applied in the context of broader market analysis. In its first month the Altos Capital fund outperformed the S&P 500 index with a net return of 2.64 per cent. During that same time period the S&P 500 was down for the month. The main objective of the fund is to outperform the S&P and Tompkins has been able to accomplish that right out of the gate.
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Steve Cohen Just Told Staff that the Head of Point72’s Cubist Unit is Leaving the Firm in the Coming Months (Business Insider)
One of Steve Cohen‘s top quant investors and head of the firm’s Cubist unit is leaving the firm in the middle of the year, according to a memo sent by Cohen this morning that was seen by Business Insider. Ross Garon, who joined Point72‘s predecessor SAC Capital in 2009, is retiring after more than a decade leading of Cohen’s quant strategies. Garon previously worked for D.E. Shaw, one of the other prestige quant hedge funds in the industry, and founded his own fund, Tykhe Capital, which was named after the Greek god of fortune.
Capital Four Crowned Best in High Yield (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Danish sub-investment credit manager Capital Four Management has been awarded “Best Fixed Income – High Yield Hedge Fund” at the Hedgeweek European Awards 2020. Capital Four and the winners in the remaining categories were presented with awards at a ceremony in London on February 26. The winners were decided by a poll of Hedgeweek readers that include industry professionals at hedge fund firms, investors, fund administrations, custodians, accountants, auditors, law firms, consultants and fund distributors. Capital Four was the only Nordic name among the winners at the Hedgeweek European Awards 2020.
British hedge fund billionaire Hohn launches campaign… (InfoSurhoy.com)
LONDON, March 2 – British hedge fund billionaire Chris Hohn has launched a campaign to persuade central banks to starve hundreds of planned coal-fired power plants around the world of finance, aiming to block the projects before they can pose a threat to the climate. Hohn, a big donor to groups working on climate change, set out his concerns in letters to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and the chairmen of Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered.
Hedge Funds Are Screwing Up Again (Daily Wealth)
Hedge funds saw lousy performance last year… And this year, it looks like they’re aiming for a repeat. According to my contacts on Wall Street, the average hedge fund returned between 7% and 10% last year. And Hedge Fund Research recently reported that the average hedge fund was up 10.4% in 2019. Either way, that’s downright terrible performance. Remember, it’s versus a total return of 31.5% for the S&P 500 Index. The amazing part is, that was the best annual performance for the industry since 2009. But it wasn’t enough to keep investors interested.
Monday 3/2 Insider Buying Report: GEO, KKR (Nasdaq.com)
At GEO Group, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, CEO George C. Zoley purchased 250,000 shares of GEO, at a cost of $16.17 each, for a total investment of $4.04M. Bargain hunters can bag GEO even cheaper than Zoley did, with the stock changing hands as low as $14.85 in trading on Monday — that’s 8.2% below Zoley’s purchase price. GEO Group is trading up about 2.1% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Zoley made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $4.5M shares for a cost of $16.96 each. And on Friday, Chief Financial Officer Robert H. Lewin purchased $1.42M worth of KKR, purchasing 50,000 shares at a cost of $28.38 each. This purchase marks the first one filed by Lewin in the past twelve months. KKR is trading up about 0.2% on the day Monday. So far Lewin is in the green, up about 2.5% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $29.10.
Insider Weekends: Insiders Step Up Their Buying During Market Downturn (Seeking Alpha)
Insider buying increased significantly last week. Notable Insider Buys: Kinder Morgan, Inc., The GEO Group, Inc., Enterprise Products Partners L.P., AMERCO, and Bunge Limited. Notable Insider Sells: Enphase Energy, Inc., Extra Space Storage Inc., SBA Communications Corporation, Tellurian Inc., and American Electric Power Company, Inc.
In NY-27 Race, Candidate Wealth is Once Again an Issue (The Buffalo News)
WASHINGTON – The latest millionaire named Chris to run for Congress from New York’s 27th District isn’t nearly as rich as the last Chris, but he’s a bit wealthier than the first. State Sen. Christopher L. Jacobs has a minimum net worth of about $11.2 million, according to the personal financial disclosure statement he filed last year. The last such document filed by Rep. Chris Collins, who resigned last October in an insider trading scandal, showed him to be about four times richer than Jacobs.
Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT) CEO Jay H Shah Bought $239,200 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Hersha Hospitality Trust, Jay H Shah, bought 20,000 shares of HT on 02/27/2020 at an average price of $11.96 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $239,200. Hersha Hospitality Trust is a self-advised Maryland real estate investment trust. It invests in institutional hotels in urban markets including New York, Washington DC, and South Florida. Its portfolio consists of approximately 46 full service properties.
San Mateo County Commits to Brookfield Infrastructure Fund (Pensions & Investments)
San Mateo County Employees’ Retirement Association, Redwood City, Calif., committed $30 million to Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners Fund, said an announcement on the $4.3 billion pension fund’s website. The Brookfield Asset Management fund targets essential services such as utilities and transportation networks. The commitment was made at the board’s Feb. 25 meeting as part of the private real asset composite within the retirement association’s inflation hedge portfolio. Michael Coultrip, chief investment officer, could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
Insider Trading Report Missing Key Perspective, The Accused (Forbes)
Former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, released a report by The Bharara Task Force On Insider Trading. Insider Trading Task Force in January. Bharara, now at NYU Law and host of the popular Podcast “Stay Tuned With Preet” assembled a team of judges, academics, regulators and former prosecutors to write a white-paper on issues involving the confusion of insider trading laws. Missing from the Task Force was anyone who had actually been charged with insider trading violations, violations the group concluded “lacked clarity, generated confusion and failed to keep up with the times.”
SEC Charges Former Corporate Executive with Insider Trading (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced insider trading charges against Bradley C. Davis, a former Vice President of Nordson Corporation, an Ohio-based manufacturing company. The SEC’s complaint alleges that in 2016, Davis regularly received confidential reports showing the strong financial performance of Nordson’s core adhesives division, the largest division at the company. Based on these reports, Davis allegedly purchased Nordson stock and options contracts prior to the company announcing favorable quarterly earnings that exceeded market expectations. According to the complaint, Davis sold his securities shortly after each of these earnings announcements, realizing over $850,000 in illicit profits from the rise in the Nordson’s stock price.
