Vest Financial LLC Has $29.26 Million Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,242 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,519 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.09% of Garmin worth $29,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GRMN. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 136.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 711,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,177,000 after purchasing an additional 411,084 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the second quarter worth $45,999,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised 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 acquiring an additional 278,990 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the first quarter valued at $38,727,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the third quarter valued at $45,501,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GRMN. Barclays lowered Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley cut Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

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

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN traded up $1.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $167.58. The stock had a trading volume of 740,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 833,434. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $174.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $165.74. The firm has a market cap of $32.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $184.42.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. Garmin’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.