3 Small-Caps Chuck Royce Is Getting Bullish On

In three separate SEC filings, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates disclosed three bullish moves.

The firm boosted its exposure to Winnebago Industries, Inc. WGO, a small-cap manufacturer of recreation vehicles (RVs),by 15.5 percent, to 2,728,377 shares of Common Stock, representing 10.13 percent of the total shares outstanding.

Royce also increased its wage on Northwest Pipe Company NWPX by almost 70 percent to 1,009,093 shares of Common Stock, which account for 10.56 percent of the steel pipeline systems manufacturer’s outstanding stock.

The final move was an addition of 375,301 shares to its holdings in CIRCOR International, Inc. CIR, taking them to 1,675,330 shares of Common Stock, or 10.17 percent of the small-cap company.

Another hedge fund betting on all three companies is Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

The firm last disclosed:

• Having more than doubled its exposure to Northwest Pipe Co, taking it to 23,415 shares worth more than half a million.
• Ownership of more than 123,067 Winnebago shares, valued at $2.6 million.
• Holding 104,039 shares of Circor, or roughly $5.7 million in stock.

The new stakes make Royce & Associates the largest institutional investor in Winnebago, the second-largest institutional shareholder at Northwest Pipe Co and Circor, trailing Eagle Asset Management (1,018,895 shares) and GAMCO Investors (1,737,666), respectively.

Shares of Circor and Northwest Pipe Co were up 0.63 percent and 1.13 percent on Wednesday's trading.

Shares of Winnebago are down about 0.5 percent.