National Pension Service Raises Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

National Pension Service raised its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 25.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 284,065 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 58,025 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Garmin were worth $50,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,006,563 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $326,909,000 after acquiring an additional 11,666 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Garmin by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,735,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $282,761,000 after buying an additional 13,968 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in Garmin by 4.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,799,000 after buying an additional 58,343 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Garmin by 34.0% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $178,958,000 after buying an additional 278,990 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 839,537 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $124,982,000 after acquiring an additional 141,001 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $204.18 on Wednesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $114.49 and a 1 year high of $207.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.21 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GRMN shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.