Hedge Funds Are Buying Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (HLX)

Is Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX) an exceptional investment today? The smart money is buying. The number of long hedge fund positions moved up by 1 in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of methods market participants can use to track publicly traded companies. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite fund managers can trounce the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are lots of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a look at the key action regarding Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX).

How have hedgies been trading Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 8% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the largest position in Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX). AQR Capital Management has a $33 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On AQR Capital Management’s heels is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $11 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

Now, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Stevens Capital Management, managed by Matthew Tewksbury, initiated the biggest position in Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX). Stevens Capital Management had 1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Arvind Sanger’s GeoSphere Capital Management also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new HLX investors: Eric Sprott’s Sprott Asset Management and Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC.

How are insiders trading Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE:HLX). These stocks are CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR), Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (NASDAQ:EXXI), Forum Energy Technologies Inc (NYSE:FET), Lufkin Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUFK), and Precision Drilling Corp (USA) (NYSE:PDS). This group of stocks belong to the oil & gas equipment & services industry and their market caps resemble HLX’s market cap.