Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stake Boosted by Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,869 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,895 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,056 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Garmin by 2.6% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in Garmin by 17.6% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 542 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 5.8% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now 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 sold a total of 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 in the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $181.00 to $133.00 in a 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.17.

Garmin Trading Down 0.4 %

GRMN stock opened at $171.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.32. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $99.61 and a 1-year high of $184.42.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS 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.