By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. investors differed in their exposure to battered energy companies in the fourth quarter, with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway taking a sizable stake in Kinder Morgan and Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors scaling back from the sector.
The positions, disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings, showed that Buffett's conglomerate opened a new stake of 26.5 million shares of the pipeline company over the quarter, while Cooperman's $5.4 billion hedge fund sold its entire stake of more than 713,000 shares.
While Cooperman's bearish move on Kinder Morgan appeared prescient since the company's shares fell 46.1 percent over the quarter and have only regained 4.7 percent so far this year, Buffett was not alone in his bet.
David Tepper's Appaloosa Management hedge fund was one of the quarter's biggest energy bulls and snapped up 9.4 million shares of Kinder Morgan. Soros Fund Management, which invests money for philanthropist and former hedge fund manager George Soros, took a small stake of 50,700 shares.
Tepper's Appaloosa also bought shares of oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. (COG.N), Range Resources Corp. (RRC.N), Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN.N) and Antero Resources Corp. (AR.N). Soros, meanwhile, appeared bearish overall and exited stakes in companies such as Noble Energy Inc (NBL.N), Western Refining (WNR.N), and Delek U.S. Holdings (DK.N).
Soros maintained a 500,000 share stake in Energy XXI Ltd (EXXI.O) over the quarter, which said on Tuesday it would miss an interest payment and retained restructuring advisors.
In addition to Kinder Morgan, Omega slashed stakes in oil and gas E&P companies Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N) and Gulfport Energy Corp (GPOR.O), as well as natural gas pipeline company Targa Resources Corp. (TRGP.N).
Oil prices have fallen by more than 70 percent in the past 20 months, driven lower by near-record production both from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, such as Russia. Benchmark Brent crude (LCOc1) plunged 23 percent in the fourth quarter alone, while U.S. crude (CLc1) tumbled 18 percent.
Most energy shares have plummeted in tandem with the oil price drop. The hedge-fund SEC disclosures are backward-looking and come out 45 days after the end of each quarter. Still, the filings offer a glimpse into how hedge fund managers played the crude supply glut.
A batch of other closely-watched investors also diverged in their approaches to the embattled oil and gas sector.