Should You Buy Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE)? – Unisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS), Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ:VRTU)

Is Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) a healthy stock for your portfolio? The smart money is in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions advanced by 1 lately.

To the average investor, there are tons of gauges market participants can use to track stocks. A couple 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 elite fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Just as integral, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a glance at the key action regarding Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE).

What does the smart money think about Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 8% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE). Royce & Associates has a $11 million position in the stock, comprising 0% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $6 million position; 2.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider’s SG Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

As one would reasonably expect, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. SG Capital Management, managed by Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider, created the most valuable position in Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE). SG Capital Management had 5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE). These stocks are Unisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS), EPIQ Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:EPIQ), 21Vianet Group Inc (NASDAQ:VNET), Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ:VRTU), and Radware Ltd. (NASDAQ:RDWR). This group of stocks are in the information technology services industry and their market caps resemble SYKE’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) applies perfectly to this mantra.