CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS) shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.
If you’d ask most market participants, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, old investment tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at the moment, we choose to focus on the elite of this club, close to 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the majority of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their highest performing equity investments, we have formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).
Just as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a variety of stimuli for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the latest action encompassing CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS).
Hedge fund activity in CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS)
At year’s end, a total of 14 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 27% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
Of the funds we track, Pine River Capital Management, managed by Brian Taylor, holds the most valuable position in CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS). Pine River Capital Management has a $97.2 million position in the stock, comprising 1.9% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Balestra, managed by James Melcher, which held a $54.9 million position; the fund has 18.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital, Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have jumped into CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS) headfirst. Brookside Capital, managed by Bain Capital, established the most valuable position in CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS). Brookside Capital had 47.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital also initiated a $5.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CYS positions are John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
How are insiders trading CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS) has experienced 2 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS). These stocks are Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE:HTS), Post Properties Inc (NYSE:PPS), ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR), Sun Communities Inc (NYSE:SUI), and Colonial Properties Trust Inc (NYSE:CLP). This group of stocks are in the reit – residential industry and their market caps are similar to CYS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE:HTS) | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| Post Properties Inc (NYSE:PPS) | 10 | 0 | 5 |
| ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR) | 13 | 5 | 0 |
| Sun Communities Inc (NYSE:SUI) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Colonial Properties Trust Inc (NYSE:CLP) | 6 | 0 | 3 |
With the returns shown by our studies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS) applies perfectly to this mantra.
