Billionaire Ken Griffin is bullish on Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) as a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows. Griffin’s fund, Citadel Advisors revealed ownership of over 6.33 million shares of Rice Energy, which represent 4.9% of the outstanding stock. In its latest 13F filing, Citadel reported a new stake in Rice Energy that was initiated during the first quarter of the year, and contained around 4.83 million shares.
Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) went public at the end of January and apparently was well received by the market, its stock gaining over 40% since the IPO. Many investors, aside from Griffin expressed their interest in the Oil & Gas exploration and production company. For example, Israel Englander‘s Millennium Management revealed holding 2.75 million shares in its latest 13F, followed by Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski‘ Firefly Value Partners with around 2.47 million shares.
The $4.0 billion market cap, Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) reported solid financial results for the first quarter of 2014, with Earnings per Share of $1.04 versus a loss of $0.05 for the same period of last year. Its revenues, mainly from gas sales, reached $90.5 million, from $13.23 million a year earlier. Moreover, the company also reported an 135% increase in net production to 209 Million Cubic Feet per Day. For the full year, analysts expect Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) to deliver EPS of $0.50.
On average, the analysts expect Rice Energy Inc (NYSE:RICE) to outperform its peers, while its mean target price is set to around $32.00 per share, which is slightly above the current price of the company’s stock.
Recently, Citadel has also upped its position in Hillshire Brands Co (NYSE:HSH), of which it holds 6.19 million shares, equal to 5.0% of the common stock, up from 4.99 million shares held previously.
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