Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 38,952 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 16,646.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,186 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,952 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $6,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 578.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth $35,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth $53,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $123,328.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $213.29 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $119.15 and a 12 month high of $216.44. The stock has a market cap of $40.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $187.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.83.

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

Garmin Company 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.