Strs Ohio Acquires New Position in Trimble Inc. $TRMB

Key Points

• Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Trimble Inc., investing approximately $29.60 million for 450,819 shares during the first quarter.
• A significant number of institutional investors have increased their stakes in Trimble, with Nuveen LLC leading by investing around $122 million in the same quarter.
• Analysts have a generally positive outlook on Trimble, with several raising their price targets; the average price target now stands at $90.50 after upgrades from major firms like JPMorgan and Oppenheimer.

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 450,819 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $29,596,000. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.19% of Trimble at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TRMB. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its holdings in shares of Trimble by 174.9% during the 1st quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 558 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Trimble in the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Trimble in the 4th quarter worth $51,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Trimble in the 1st quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Trimble by 153.5% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 976 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.21% of the company's stock.

Trimble Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of TRMB traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $81.01. The company had a trading volume of 981,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,563,750. The company's 50 day moving average price is $81.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.76. The stock has a market cap of $19.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.84, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.66. Trimble Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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

Insider Activity at Trimble

In other news, VP Mark David Schwartz sold 1,404 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $112,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 21,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,680,080. The trade was a 6.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Jennifer Allison sold 3,156 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $252,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $230,560. The trade was a 52.27% 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. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Trimble from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Trimble in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Trimble from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Trimble from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seven have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.