Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital Boosted in $URS

Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital boosted its passive stake in URS Corp (URS) to 5.21%, according to the SEC 13G filing on November 21th. So now Glenview Capital has 4.15 million shares in URS. This is a 5% expansion in Glenview Capital’s position since the firm reported 3.96 million shares in its 13F filing at the end of the third quarter. In the second quarter, Glenview Capital took 3.81 million shares in URS in its position. URS is now trading at $33.14, losing about 20% so far in 2011.

Sixteen hedge funds in our tracking list reported their positions in URS in the second quarter. Beside Glenview Capital’s largest chunk of shares, David E. Shaw’s D. E. Shaw had 1.27 million shares in the stock, after a small decrease of 8%. Cliff Asness’ Aqr Capital Management increased its position by 51% and had 538 thousand shares. Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates increase its position by 28% to 275 thousand shares.

Larry Robbins was a trader at Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors prior to founding Glenview Capital in February 2001. Larry Robbins’ Glenview returned 301% after fees and expenses between January 2001 and December 2010. Glenview Capital also returned 15.7% in 2010, performing better than average hedge funds and the S&P 500 index. Larry Robbins’ Glenview, once a$9 billion hedge fund, lost around half of its assets and underperformed the market in 2008. Asset losses and a poor performance made them lay off 12 employees right before Christmas that year. Glenview lost around 50% in 2008, but the bad days may be behind them now. The fund returned 82.7% in 2009.

URS Corporation is a Technical Services company. It provides engineering, construction, and technical services to public and private clients worldwide. The company specializes in power-generating facilities and systems. It also provides services to build, expand, and modify surface, air, and rail transportation networks and infrastructure. Additionally the company provides operations and maintenance services for completed projects. The company serves federal sectors, military and government installations, weapons systems. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.