Is Syngenta AG (ADR) (SYT) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) the right investment to pursue these days? Hedge funds are getting less bullish. The number of long hedge fund bets were cut by 2 recently.

At the moment, there are tons of indicators shareholders can use to monitor Mr. Market. Two of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outpace the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action regarding Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT).

What have hedge funds been doing with Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -17% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the most valuable position in Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT), worth close to $73.8 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Fisher Asset Management’s heels is Forward Management, managed by J. Alan Reid, Jr., which held a $8.8 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.

Due to the fact that Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we monitor, valued at about $8.3 million in stock., and Matthew Tewksbury of Stevens Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.4 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT)?

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 half-year time period, Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT). These stocks are CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF), Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU), Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS), Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON), and Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT). This group of stocks belong to the agricultural chemicals industry and their market caps resemble SYT’s market cap.