Insider Buying Exploding In Energy Sector; 3 Energy-Related Companies With Insider Buys

Era Group Inc. (NYSE:ERA) reported insider buying this week for the first time in more than a year. Chief Executive Officer Christopher Scott Bradshaw snapped up 13,929 shares on Tuesday at a weighted average cost of $10.76 and currently owns 87,485 shares. The company primarily offers helicopter transportation services to offshore oil and gas production companies, so it is no wonder why its shares are 49% in the red this year. Nonetheless, Era Group, one of the world’s largest helicopter operators, also offers search and rescue, air medical services, utility services and Alaska flightseeing tours. The company’s total oil and gas operating revenues (account for 68% of its total operating revenues) for the first nine months of 2015 totaled $141.21 million, down from $180.14 million reported for the same period of 2014. This substantial decrease was mainly attributable to the decline in demand for helicopter services, as a result of decreased activity in the oil and gas production and exploration industry. Era Group experiences excess capacity in its medium helicopters and anticipates excess capacity in its heavy helicopters, so the company needs to put additional efforts in securing sufficient new projects to boost utilization. A number of 11 hedge funds from our database were invested in the company at the end of the third quarter, accumulating 20% of its outstanding shares. Richard Mashaal’s Rima Senvest Management lifted its stake in Era Group Inc. (NYSE:ERA) by 38% during the third quarter to 1.48 million shares.

Last but not least, Shell Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:SHLX) also saw one of its executives buy shares last week. Vice President of Operations Alton G. Smith purchased 3,435 shares on Friday at prices ranging from $37.56 to $37.62 per share, increasing his stake to 5,000 shares. This fee-based master limited partnership that owns and operates pipelines and other midstream assets has seen its shares decline slightly more than 1% this year. The MLP generates most of its revenues under long-term agreements by charging fees for transporting crude oil and refined products, so the company is not directly exposed to commodity prices. These long-term agreements provide stable cash flow streams that are not impacted by a reduction in volumes as a result of supply and demand dynamics. Nonetheless, a sustained long-term shift in crude oil supply and demand dynamics can adversely impact the demand for the MLP’s services. Shell Midstream Partners reported a revenue of $181.7 million for the first nine months of 2015, as compared with $126.8 million reported for the same period a year earlier. The number of hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey with positions in the MLP climbed to 10 from eight during the third quarter, while the value of these positions grew to $39.07 million from $37.20 million. James Dondero’s Highland Capital holds 194,869 shares of Shell Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:SHLX) as of September 30.

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