Should You Buy Cohen & Steers, Inc. (CNS)?

Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS) investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of gauges shareholders can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of reasons for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action regarding Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS).

How are hedge funds trading Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 20% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors had the largest position in Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS), worth close to $50.2 million, accounting for 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $44.8 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, created the most outsized position in Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS). D E Shaw had 3.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter.

How are insiders trading Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS). These stocks are WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (NASDAQ:WETF), Gamco Investors Inc. (NYSE:GBL), Janus Capital Group Inc (NYSE:JNS), Virtus Investment Partners Inc (NASDAQ:VRTS), and Financial Engines Inc (NASDAQ:FNGN). This group of stocks are in the asset management industry and their market caps resemble CNS’s market cap.