Russell Lucas runs Lucas Capital Management, a fund that has recently revealed its equity portfolio as of the end of the first quarter of 2015 and which is mainly focused on the energy market, specifically in North American oil and gas opportunities. Russell Lucas holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics obtained in 1982 from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Lucas Capital Managemeny was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Red Bank, NJ with an additional office in Northport.
According to the latest 13F filing, Lucas Capital Management’s equity portfolio is valued at $247.89 million and the fund holds a total of 131 long positions. As alluded to, the fund has a lot of exposure to the energy sector, which amasses nearly 70% of the total value of the portfolio, while its largest holdings are represented by Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE:SBR), Dorchester Minerals LP (NASDAQ:DMLP), Plains GP Holdings LP (NYSE:PAGP), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NBL).
The reason we analyze Lucas’ 13F filings, alongside over 700 other prominent investors is because we determined that these filings can provide some investment opportunities despite a maximum delay of 45 days for each filing. According to our backtests, the 50 most popular large-cap stocks among hedge funds had a monthly alpha of about 6.0 basis points per month between 1999 and 2012, but underperformed the market by around 7.0 basis points per month. On the other hand, the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds delivered a monthly alpha of 80 basis points and beat the market by nearly one percentage point per month. We have been tracking the performance of these stocks in real-time since the end of August 2012 and our system has beaten the market by around 80 percentage points (137% return vs. S&P 500′s 57% gain) over the last 32 months (see more details here).
Lucas Capital Management’s largest position is in Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE:SBR), with the fund reporting ownership of nearly 308,800 shares valued at $12.15 million in its 13F filing. While the investor has cut the number of shares owned by 3% over the quarter, the stock price of Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE:SBR) has appreciated by 13% during the first three months of 2015. Some of Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE:SBR)’s other shareholders are Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, Roger Ibbotson’s Zebra Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Dorchester Minerals LP (NASDAQ:DMLP) represents Lucas Capital Management’s second-largest position, the investor holding 465,700 shares of the company with a value of $10.59 million. Dorchester Minerals LP (NASDAQ:DMLP) is a Master Limited Partnership, which means that the company pays a solid dividend, which amounts to $0.31 for the first quarter (down from $0.49) and gives the stock a yield of over 7%. Similar to Sabine Royalty Trust, Lucas is the largest shareholder of Dorchester Minerals LP (NASDAQ:DMLP), among the funds that we track, followed by David Atterbury’s Whetstone Capital Advisors and Renaissance Technologies, which own much less significant stakes as per their latest 13F filings.
Plains GP Holdings LP (NYSE:PAGP) represents another large position held by Lucas Capital Management. The investor decreased the stake by 19% during the January-March period, while the stock grew by around 10.50% during the same period. At the end of the first quarter, Lucas held slightly above 307,500 shares of the company valued at $8.73 million. Plains GP Holdings LP (NYSE:PAGP) is an $18 billion oil & gas midstream company which had revenue of $43.46 billion, versus $42.25 billion a year earlier, while its diluted earnings per share jumped to $0.48 from $0.10. Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management and Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital own significant positions in Plains GP Holdings LP (NYSE:PAGP) as of the end of 2014, which contain around 10.0 million shares and 5.0 million shares respectively.
Lucas Capital Management’s fourth largest position is represented by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in which the fund owns 65,200 shares, worth $8.11 million. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the most popular stock among the funds we track as of the end of 2014, and the company’s latest successes support the fact that the company might remain on top following the current round of 13F filings. A number of billionaires are bullish on Apple, including Carl Icahn, Ken Fisher, and David Shaw. David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital also owns a substantial position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and in its latest letter to investors, Greenlight said that it continues to like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) because the market still values the company at a discount.
Lucas Capital Management’ stake in Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NBL) inched down during the first quarter to 145,700 shares valued at $7.13 million. The decline in oil and gas prices that affected most Exploration & Production companies has also affected Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NBL), which similar to its peers has launched some cost-cutting initiatives, cutting 220 jobs at the beginning of April. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management is the largest shareholder of Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NBL) among the funds we track, holding 14.50 million shares according to its latest 13F filing.
Disclosure: None
