The Texas Permanent School Fund reduces its stock holdings in Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG)

The Texas Permanent School Fund reduced its holdings in Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG – Get Rating) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its latest 13F filing with the SEC. The fund held 21,651 shares of the company after selling 1,924 shares during the quarter. The Texas Permanent School Fund held 0.08% of Big Lots worth $749,000 at the end of last quarter.

A number of other major investors have also changed their positions in the company. Gladius Capital Management LP increased its equity stake in Big Lots by 19.5% during Q1. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 2,362 shares of the company valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Big Lots shares by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 6,292 shares of the company valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Big Lots shares by 0.6% in Q1. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 78,000 shares of the company valued at $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Big Lots by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 14,587 shares of the company valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Big Lots shares by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 6,366 shares of the company valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. 94.42% of the shares are currently held by institutional investors.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently released reports on BIG. Goldman Sachs Group lowered its price target on jackpots from $36.00 to $25.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a Tuesday, June 7 research note. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered its jackpot price target from $31.00 to $23.00 in a Tuesday, May 31 research note. Bank of America reduced its price target on Big Lots from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “underperforming” rating for the company in a Tuesday, May 24 research note. Loop Capital lowered its jackpot price target from $27.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a Tuesday, June 21 research note. Finally, Barclays lowered its jackpot price target from $27.00 to $22.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a Friday, June 10 research note. Four equity research analysts gave the stock a sell rating and five issued a hold rating for the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Big Lots currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.63.

Jackpot inventory down 3.4%

Shares of BIG opened at $26.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $763.12 million, a price-earnings ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 1.97. Big Lots, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.16 and a 1-year high of $58.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.11. The company has a debt ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.19.

Big Lots (NYSE:BIG – Get Rating) last released quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 27. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 per ($1.28). The company posted revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, versus $1.46 billion for analysts. Big Lots had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 1.22%. The company’s revenue was down 15.4% year over year. During the same period last year, the company earned earnings per share of $2.62. As a group, stock analysts expect Big Lots, Inc. to post earnings per share of -2.34 for the current fiscal year.

Big Lots Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 24. Investors of record on Friday, June 10 received a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 9. This represents an annualized dividend of $1.20 and a yield of 4.55%. The Big Lots payout rate is currently 54.79%.

About Big Lots

(Get a rating)

Big Lots, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a discount door-to-door retailer in the United States. The Company offers products in various merchandising categories, such as the furniture category which includes upholstery, mattresses, crate items and ready-to-assemble departments; the seasonal category, which includes patio furniture, gazebos, Christmas trim and other holiday departments; the soft home category which includes the departments of fashion and utility bedding, bathroom, windows, decorative textiles, home organization, area rugs, home decor and picture frames; and the food category which includes beverages and groceries, candies and snacks, specialty foods and pet departments.

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