Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates filed on December 6th that the firm has increased its position in LSB Industries Inc. (LXU), and Shoe Carnival Inc. (SCVL). Now Royce & Associates takes 2,396,012 shares in LXU, corresponding to a 10.75% passive stake ownership. This is a 12% expansion in Chuck Royce’s LXU position, since he reported 2.13 million shares at the end of September. LXU has a mixed path after the third quarter. Now the stock is priced at $30.18, and has returned 24% so far in 2011.
Meanwhile, Chuck Royce increased his SCVL position by 33% to 1,537,750 shares. This is after he reported 1.15 million shares in SCVL in his third quarter 13F. SCVL tumbled on November 18th after the company reported its third quarter results. Chuck Royce might have seen the recent decline in price as a buying opportunity. SCVL has lost 12% in 2011, and is trading at $23.64.
Jim Simons took smaller positions in these two stocks in the third quarter. His Renaissance Technologies reported 74,200 shares in LXU and 62,500 shares in SCVL. Both positions were cut by Jim Simons during the third quarter.
Royce & Associates is an asset management arm of Legg Mason Inc. Based on its LinkedIn profile, the firm provides services and pooled investment vehicles, pension and profit sharing plans. The firm mainly invests in value stocks in Services, Financial, Technology, Consumer Goods, Basic Materials, and some other sectors. The firm had a portfolio value of more than $35 billion, mainly investing in Services, Financial, Technology, and Industrial Goods sector.
According to Google Finance, LSB Industries, Inc. “ is a diversified holding company. LSB and its wholly owned subsidiaries owns all of its businesses consisting of the Climate Control Business engaged in the manufacturing and selling of a range of air conditioning, heating products, which include geothermal and water source heat pumps, hydronic fan coils, large custom air handlers, modular geothermal chillers and other related products used to control the environment in various structures, and Chemical Business engaged in the manufacturing and selling of nitrogen based chemical products produced from four plants located in Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas for the industrial, mining and agricultural markets. LSB’s Chemical Business has four chemical production facilities located in El Dorado, Arkansas (El Dorado Facility), Cherokee, Alabama (Cherokee Facility), Pryor, Oklahoma (Pryor Facility) and Baytown, Texas (Baytown Facility).”
Shoe Carnival, Inc. “is a family footwear retailer. The Company offers customers an assortment of dress, casual and athletic footwear for men, women and children with emphasis on national and regional name brands. The Company’s stores averaged approximately 10,800 square feet, ranging in size from 6,000 to 26,500 square feet. Its stores carry an average inventory of approximately 28,000 pairs of shoes per location. As of January 29, 2011, it operated 314 stores in 30 states primarily in the Midwest, South and Southeast regions of the United States. The average store carries approximately 28,000 pairs of shoes in four general categories, such as men’s, women’s, children’s and athletics. In addition to footwear, its stores carry selected accessory items complementary to the sale of footwear.”
