Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Buys 28,676 Shares of Trimble Inc. $TRMB

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB) by 168.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,669 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,676 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Trimble were worth $3,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Trimble in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Trimble during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Trimble by 90.8% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 372 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Trimble in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Trimble by 78.7% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 93.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Trimble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Trimble in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Trimble in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Trimble from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Trimble in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Trimble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.78.

Trimble Price Performance

NASDAQ:TRMB opened at $66.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $76.59 and a 200-day moving average of $79.18. Trimble Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $87.50. The company has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.84, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.59.

Trimble announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, December 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the scientific and technical instruments company to purchase up to 5.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Trimble news, CEO Robert G. Painter sold 7,500 shares of Trimble stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.39, for a total transaction of $610,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 41,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,409,996.83. This trade represents a 15.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Phillip Sawarynski sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.45, for a total transaction of $181,012.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 25,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,066,277.80. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 17,866 shares of company stock worth $1,448,543 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Trimble

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.