Hedge Funds Are Dumping Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)

Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late.

Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)

In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of indicators shareholders can use to track the equity markets. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a glance at the key action regarding Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT).

How have hedgies been trading Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, John Burbank’s Passport Capital had the most valuable position in Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT), worth close to $233 million, comprising 9% of its total 13F portfolio. On Passport Capital’s heels is Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, which held a $55 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.

Because Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few hedgies that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the year. Intriguingly, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we watch, comprising close to $14 million in stock., and Ervin Shindell of Roundkeep Capital Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $10 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds at the end of the year.

How have insiders been trading Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 14 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn more about Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Newsletter

Insider Monkey’s small-cap strategy returned 29.2% between September 2012 and February 2013 versus 8.7% for the S&P 500 index. Try it now by clicking the link above.