Hedge Funds Are Crazy About CTS Corporation (CTS)

CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS) shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund interest of late.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to monitor Mr. Market. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as integral, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. There are a number of incentives for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a gander at the recent action encompassing CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS).

How are hedge funds trading CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 50% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the most valuable position in CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS). GAMCO Investors has a $34.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $2.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, established the most outsized position in CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS). Citadel Investment Group had 0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management also made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter.

What have insiders been doing with CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to CTS Corporation (NYSE:CTS). These stocks are Methode Electronics Inc. (NYSE:MEI), KEMET Corporation (NYSE:KEM), Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK), UniPixel Inc (NASDAQ:UNXL), and Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (ADR) (NASDAQ:SIMO). This group of stocks are in the diversified electronics industry and their market caps resemble CTS’s market cap.