Do Hedge Funds and Insiders Love Cytec Industries Inc (CYT)?

Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately.

To the average investor, there are a multitude of gauges shareholders can use to track stocks. A duo of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are many motivations for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a glance at the recent action surrounding Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT).

How are hedge funds trading Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)?

At the end of the first quarter, a total of 22 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 22% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Passport Capital, managed by John Burbank, holds the largest position in Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT). Passport Capital has a $261 million position in the stock, comprising 10.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, which held a $98.5 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.

Now, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Cobalt Capital Management, managed by Wayne Cooperman, created the biggest position in Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT). Cobalt Capital Management had 23.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also made a $6.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CYT positions are SAC Subsidiary’s CR Intrinsic Investors, Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Insider trading activity in Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time period, Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 12 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cytec Industries Inc (NYSE:CYT). These stocks are Cabot Corp (NYSE:CBT), PolyOne Corporation (NYSE:POL), RPM International Inc. (NYSE:RPM), Methanex Corporation (USA) (NASDAQ:MEOH), and NewMarket Corporation (NYSE:NEU). This group of stocks are in the specialty chemicals industry and their market caps are similar to CYT’s market cap.