Royal Bank of Canada Sells 128,000 Shares of Trimble Inc. $TRMB

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its holdings in Trimble Inc. by 37.1%, selling 128,000 shares and holding approximately $14.23 million worth at the end of the quarter.
• Hedge funds significantly modified their positions in Trimble during the 1st quarter, with firms like Baird Financial Group increasing their stakes by 941.7%.
• Trimble reported earnings of $0.71 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenues of $875.7 million for the quarter, a slight year-over-year increase of 0.6%.

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in shares of Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB - Free Report) by 37.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,735 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 128,000 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.09% of Trimble worth $14,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TRMB. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH bought a new position in Trimble during the first quarter valued at $331,000. MAI Capital Management raised its position in shares of Trimble by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,684 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in Trimble by 1,215.4% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 9,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $632,000 after buying an additional 8,897 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in Trimble by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 10,067 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $661,000 after buying an additional 2,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Trimble by 941.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,596 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 28,563 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.21% of the company's stock.

Trimble Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:TRMB opened at $80.16 on Thursday. Trimble Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.58.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.08. Trimble had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 8.02%.The firm had revenue of $875.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $835.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Trimble Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TRMB. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Trimble from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Trimble from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $93.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Trimble in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Trimble from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seven have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $90.50.

Insider Transactions at Trimble

In related news, Director James Calvin Dalton sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.41, for a total transaction of $50,187.69. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,809 shares in the company, valued at $1,137,999.69. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Mark David Schwartz sold 1,476 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total value of $115,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,747,590. This trade represents a 6.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 222,992 shares of company stock worth $18,579,506. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Trimble

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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