Hedge Funds Are Buying QEP Resources Inc (QEP)

QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP) investors should pay attention to an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers in recent months.

To the average investor, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outpace the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action regarding QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP).

How have hedgies been trading QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 28 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from the first quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, holds the largest position in QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP). JANA Partners has a $237.5 million position in the stock, comprising 4.9% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $45.8 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Brian Jackelow’s SAB Capital Management and Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 3G Capital.

Now, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. SAB Capital Management, managed by Brian Jackelow, established the most outsized position in QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP). SAB Capital Management had 31.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Stephen J. Errico’s Locust Wood Capital Advisers also made a $12.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Tom Sandell’s Sandell Asset Management, SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Insider trading activity in QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP). These stocks are Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR), Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:LNG), Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE:HP), Penn West Petroleum Ltd (USA) (NYSE:PWE), and Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL). This group of stocks belong to the oil & gas drilling & exploration industry and their market caps resemble QEP’s market cap.