Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Purchased by Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares during the period. Garmin makes up 1.1% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $88,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GRMN. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 1,580.3% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 287,283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,570,000 after purchasing an additional 270,186 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Garmin by 123.8% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 486,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $85,600,000 after purchasing an additional 268,996 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,501,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 560.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 203,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,860,000 after purchasing an additional 172,883 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 $217.59 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $211.97 and its 200-day moving average is $189.72. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $119.15 and a 52 week high of $222.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Garmin

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.