Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMB) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $96.6667.

TRMB has been the topic of several research reports. Berenberg Bank set a $95.00 target price on Trimble and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Trimble in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Trimble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Trimble in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Trimble in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Trimble Stock Down 1.7%

TRMB opened at $80.18 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $19.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.92, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59. Trimble has a twelve month low of $52.91 and a twelve month high of $87.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.32.

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

Trimble declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, December 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the scientific and technical instruments company to repurchase up to 5.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kaigham Gabriel sold 1,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $139,158.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,228,770. This represents a 10.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James Calvin Dalton sold 616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,081,694.07. This trade represents a 4.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,084 shares of company stock worth $2,144,726. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Trimble

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TRMB. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Trimble during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Trimble during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Trimble by 90.8% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 372 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in Trimble by 175.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 364 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Trimble in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. 93.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.