282,342 Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Bought by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 282,342 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,999,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.15% of Garmin at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $54,460,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Garmin in the first quarter worth about $38,727,000. SW Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $28,279,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,848,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.33.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $171.58 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $174.22 and its 200-day moving average is $161.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $99.61 and a 52 week high of $184.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 in the last quarter. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.