Marshall Wace LLP Increases Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 278,990 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.57% of Garmin worth $178,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth about $20,848,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,853 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,921 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,931 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 24,553 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,246 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $175.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $33.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $184.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $162.87.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 accessible through this link. In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 accessible through 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 stock was 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 approximately $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.17.

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.