Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Ups Stake in Saks $SKS to 11.1%

Mason Hawkin’s Southeastern Asset Management is bullish on retailer Saks Inc (SKS).

The fund had initiated a new 13.61 million share position in the company during the third quarter, a holding valued at $119.11 million at the end of September, but it appears that wasn’t quite enough. In a 13G dated yesterday, January 10, Hawkins’ brought his fund’s total stake in the company to total 17.82 million shares, or 11.1% of the company. The percentage is based on 159,879,228 shares of common stock outstanding.

All in all, Southeastern has roughly 3.36 milllion shares of SKS with sole voting power, 155,000 shares with no voting power and 14.30 million shares with shared voting power. Of those, 3.51 million shares have sole dispositive power and 14.30 million have shared dispositive power. The 14.30 million shares, or 8.9% of SKS, is to be shared with Longleaf Partners Small Cap Fund, a series of Longleaf Partners Funds, which is managed by Southeastern Asset Management.

According to its website, Longleaf Partners Small Cap Fund is focused on long-term capital growth, looking towards time horizons over 5 years. It has $3,038 million in net assets under management, and invests at least 80% of those net assets. On its site, the fund expresses that it “invests primarily in small-cap U.S. companies believed to be significantly undervalued.”

SKS is currently trading at $9.23 on a one-year target estimate of $11.50. It has a forward P/E of 18.46 and a price to book value of 1.22. The company is down -21.24% over the last year. It has a 50-day moving average of $9.47 and a 200-day moving average of $9.84, suggesting a downward trend, or the dark before the dawn if Hawkins is correct.