Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Acquired by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 456,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Garmin were worth $80,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,479 shares of company stock worth $2,419,502. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.4 %

Garmin stock opened at $209.27 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $118.79 and a 52 week high of $215.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.19 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.67.

Garmin Profile

Garmin Ltd. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of wireless devices worldwide. Its Fitness segment offers running and multi-sport watches; cycling products; smartwatch devices; scales and monitors; and fitness accessories. This segment also provides Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect Mobile, which are web and mobile platforms where users can track and analyze their fitness, activities and workouts, and wellness data; and Connect IQ, an application development platform.