Control Empresarial De Capitales, a major holder of Talos Energy (TALO), recently increased their position by 130 percent. They bought 19,658,119 shares, at a cost of just under $230 million.
The fund was the most recent insider buyer with two purchases in November totaling about $23 million. Otherwise, other major holders of Talos Energy have been sellers going back to mid-2023 and earlier.
Overall, institutions own about 70 percent of outstanding Talos shares. Company insiders own about 22.4 percent of shares, leaving a limited float for investors.
The oil and gas exploration company is down about 37 percent over the last year. Declining energy prices and a lack of consistent earnings have weighed on shares. But oil has started to show some strength when it gets to the low $70 range, near where it trades today.
The recent decline has taken Talos shares to about 15 times forward earnings.
Action to take: Talos is a speculative name in the energy space, and could be a buy once its current downtrend ends.
For now, the downtrend suggests that investors should avoid buying shares now, especially as Talos does not pay a dividend.
For traders, with shares trending lower, a put option play may make sense here.
The April $12.50 puts are at-the-money. Last trading for about $1.00, they could see a mid-double-digit increase from a further drop in Talos shares.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.