Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Carpenter Technology Corporation (CRS)?

Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. CRS investors should be aware of a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with CRS positions at the end of the previous quarter.

If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, old financial tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation today, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the leaders of this group, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by paying attention to their best investments, we have found a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see all of our picks from August).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading activity is another way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the latest action encompassing Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS).

Hedge fund activity in Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS)

At Q1’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -42% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS), worth close to $35.6 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group, with a $24 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include John Burbank’s Passport Capital, Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital.

Since Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedgies that decided to sell off their full holdings in Q1. Intriguingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies said goodbye to the biggest position of the 450+ funds we track, valued at close to $11.6 million in stock.. Dmitry Balyasny’s fund, Balyasny Asset Management, also dumped its stock, about $9.3 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 8 funds in Q1.

How have insiders been trading Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS). These stocks are Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI), Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ATI), Sims Metal Management Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:SMS), Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR), and Chart Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLS). All of these stocks are in the metal fabrication industry and their market caps are closest to CRS’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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