Norwegian hedge fund investor Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio) took a 7.3 percent stake in Oklahoma-based independent oil and gas company Gulfport Energy (GPOR, Financial) on Jan. 19, according to RealTime Picks.
Halvorsen’s $30.2 billion Viking Global Investors purchased 7,893,422 shares of the company the day its price closed at $22.47 per share, making the stake’s total cost an estimated $177.4 million. Year to date, the shares have traded up roughly 14% to $27.94 each on mid-afternoon Monday, a positive upswing from their 41% slide for the year 2015.
Known as a “Tiger Cub” – a former protégé of hedge fund pioneer Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio) – Halvorsen in January ranked as the fifth most profitable hedge fund manager for netting $22.5 billion in gains since his fund’s inception in 1999, up from seventh place in 2014, according to data from LCH Investments NV.
The Gulfport Energy bid represented his fourth significant new stake in an energy company in January alone. He also acquired greater than 5 percent interest in Range Resources Corp. (RRC, Financial), Cabot Oil & Gas Corp (COG, Financial) and Southwestern Energy co. (SWN, Financial) during the month.
Gulfport Energy owns properties in the Utica Shale of Eastern Ohio and near the Louisiana Gulf Coast, West Texas through equity interest in Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG, Financial) and the Alberta Oil Sands in Canada through a stake in Grizzly Oil Sands ULC.
The company’s earnings and margins have been in decline over the past three quarters as pricing pressure in the oil industry intensified, while higher gas sales boosted revenue recently. For full-year 2015, Gulfport expects production to be between 75% to 85% natural gas, which saw less sharp price decline over the past year.
In the third quarter, Gulfport reported $230.6 million in revenue, compared to $170.8 million a year earlier and $112.3 million the previous quarter.
Its net loss totaled $388.2 million, compared to a net profit of $4.88 million last year and net loss of $31.3 million the previous quarter. At the end of the quarter Gulfport held cash of $228.1 million, from $152.9 million a year earlier, and long-term debt mounting to $963.0 million from $616.9 million for the same periods.
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