Private Advisor Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,231 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. West Oak Capital LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the second quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the second quarter worth about $76,000. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the company’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 value of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN stock opened at $171.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $184.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $174.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS for the current 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.