Baird Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Trimble Inc. $TRMB

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. significantly increased its holdings in Trimble Inc. by 941.7%, owning 31,596 shares worth $2,074,000 as of the end of the most recent quarter.
• Trimble's CEO, Robert G. Painter, sold 115,781 shares, representing a 50.20% decrease in his position, while other insiders sold a total of 222,992 shares over the last quarter.
• Analysts have a positive outlook on Trimble, with multiple firms raising their price targets and maintaining "outperform" ratings, forecasting an average target price of $90.50.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB - Free Report) by 941.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,596 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 28,563 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Trimble were worth $2,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TRMB. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Trimble in the fourth quarter worth approximately $211,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Trimble in the fourth quarter worth approximately $474,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Trimble by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,290 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,010,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Trimble by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,670,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $118,010,000 after buying an additional 179,103 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Trimble by 317.4% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,747,000 after buying an additional 18,796 shares during the period. 93.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Trimble news, CEO Robert G. Painter sold 115,781 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.83, for a total transaction of $9,590,140.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 114,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,515,427.57. This trade represents a 50.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Mark David Schwartz sold 1,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $112,320.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $1,680,080. This trade represents a 6.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 222,992 shares of company stock worth $18,579,506 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Trimble Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ TRMB opened at $80.74 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.21 billion, a PE ratio of 69.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.66. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $81.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.41. Trimble Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $87.50.

Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $875.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $835.81 million. Trimble had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 8.02%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Trimble Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Trimble in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Trimble from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Trimble from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Trimble from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seven have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Trimble has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $90.50.

Trimble Company Profile

Trimble Inc provides technology solutions that enable professionals and field mobile workers to enhance or transform their work processes worldwide. The company's Buildings and Infrastructure segment offers field and office software for project design and visualization; systems to guide and control construction equipment; software for 3D design and data sharing; systems to monitor, track, and manage assets, equipment, and workers; software to share and communicate data; program management solutions for construction owners; 3D conceptual design and modeling software; building information modeling software; enterprise resource planning, project management, and project collaboration solutions; integrated site layout and measurement systems; cost estimating, scheduling, and project controls solutions; and applications for sub-contractors and trades.

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