Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Raises Stake in Trimble Inc. $TRMB

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 209,880 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 8,466 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Trimble worth $17,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Trimble in the second quarter valued at $198,583,000. Generation Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Trimble by 19.1% in the second quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 9,019,663 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $685,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449,315 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Trimble by 26.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,978,106 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $458,113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,445,851 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Trimble by 73.1% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,283,759 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $97,540,000 after acquiring an additional 542,245 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Trimble by 14.4% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,170,179 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $318,285,000 after buying an additional 525,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.21% of the company’s stock.

Trimble Stock Performance

Trimble stock opened at $81.55 on Wednesday. Trimble Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $87.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $19.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.32.

Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter. Trimble had a return on equity of 10.73% and a net margin of 9.93%.The company had revenue of $856.50 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts forecast that Trimble Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Trimble announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, December 5th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the scientific and technical instruments company to buy up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Trimble

In other Trimble news, Director James Calvin Dalton sold 616 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.99, for a total transaction of $50,505.84. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,193 shares in the company, valued at $1,081,694.07. This represents a 4.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Painter sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.39, for a total value of $610,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 41,897 shares in the company, valued at $3,409,996.83. The trade was a 15.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 27,084 shares of company stock valued at $2,144,726. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TRMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Trimble from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Trimble in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Trimble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Trimble in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Trimble in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.67.

Trimble Company Profile

Trimble Inc (NASDAQ: TRMB) is a technology company that develops hardware, software and services to improve the productivity and connectivity of customers across the construction, agriculture, geospatial, transportation and logistics, and natural resources sectors. The company’s offerings center on advanced positioning technologies — including GNSS/GPS receivers, inertial sensors and laser scanning — integrated with application-specific software and cloud services to enable precise measurement, modeling, machine control and workflow automation for field and office operations.

Trimble’s product portfolio spans surveying and geospatial instruments (total stations, mobile mapping and terrestrial laser scanners), construction solutions (machine control systems, site positioning and estimating), agriculture systems (auto-steer, guidance and application-control platforms), and fleet and transportation telematics.