Is Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (HOS) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Should Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS) investors track the following data?

At the moment, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to track the equity markets. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can trounce the market by a significant margin (see just how much).

Just as useful, positive insider trading activity is another way to analyze the financial markets. There are many incentives for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, we’re going to study the newest info about Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 38% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Debra Fine’s Fine Capital Partners had the biggest position in Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS), worth close to $88.9 million, comprising 8.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, which held a $71.4 million position; the fund has 0.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Gilchrist Berg’s Water Street Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and SAC Subsidiary’s Sigma Capital Management.

As one would understandably expect, certain bigger names were leading the bulls’ herd. Fine Capital Partners, managed by Debra Fine, created the most outsized position in Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS). Fine Capital Partners had 88.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management also initiated a $71.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HOS positions are Gilchrist Berg’s Water Street Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

How are insiders trading Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. (NYSE:HOS). These stocks are C&J Energy Services Inc (NYSE:CJES), Exterran Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:EXLP), Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (NASDAQ:EXXI), CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE:CRR), and Exterran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EXH). This group of stocks are the members of the oil & gas equipment & services industry and their market caps match HOS’s market cap.