Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Bought by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank increased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Garmin were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 6.1% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Garmin in the second quarter valued at about $415,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 5.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,349 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $7,714,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 4.3% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $211.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $119.15 and a 52-week high of $222.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $211.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.36.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

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.