Arnold Van Den Berg (Trades, Portfolio) of Austin’s Century Management generally seeks companies with good balance sheets trading at market discounts and holds for the long term, but he recently slashed his position in Vishay Precision Group (VPG, Financial).
The investor reduced 97.2% of the position, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks, dwindling it down to 29,683 shares, which represents 0.23% of the company. Prior to the sell, he held 1,059,520 shares.
Van Den Berg initiated a position in the company in third quarter of 2011 when it averaged $15 and had been selling chunks of shares for consecutives quarters since the end of 2012. On Feb. 27, the day before the recent transaction, the company’s shares closed at $14.85 each and have lost almost 12% of their market value over the past year.
VPG is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of resistive foil technology used in certain industrial applications in markets such as medical, agricultural, transportation, industrial and others.
On Feb. 11 the company announced fourth quarter revenue of $61.2 million, a 1.7% decrease from the same quarter a year ago. Quarterly net earnings were $1.7 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, compared to $2.5 million, or $0.18 per diluted share a year prior.
VPG has a P/E ratio of 22.4 and a P/B ratio of 1.04, near a one-year low.
Other gurus with a stake in the company include Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio), who has a 6% stake and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), who holds 0.72% of outstanding shares.
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