Tredje AP fonden Trims Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Tredje AP fonden decreased its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,385 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 418 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $54,460,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,999,000. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter worth about $38,727,000. SW Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $28,279,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 28.4% in 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 buying an additional 190,739 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the 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 owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $169.73 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $184.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $174.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $162.03. The firm has a market cap of $32.60 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share 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.