Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (SYKE): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) investors should be aware of a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.

At the moment, there are dozens of indicators market participants can use to monitor the equity markets. Two 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 best investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the key action surrounding Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE).

How have hedgies been trading Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -13% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE). Royce & Associates has a $16.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider of SG Capital Management, with a $6.6 million position; the fund has 3.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Because Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there were a few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely in Q1. At the top of the heap, Jason F. Harris’s Kendall Square Capital cut the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds we track, worth close to $3.7 million in stock., and Ken Gray and Steve Walsh of Bryn Mawr Capital was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in Q1.

Insider trading activity in Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE)

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, 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 the members of the information technology services industry and their market caps are closest to SYKE’s market cap.

With the results shown by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) is an important part of this process.

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