Versant Capital Management Inc Purchases 216 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 78.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 493 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Garmin were worth $102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,216,819,000 after buying an additional 134,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $765,912,000 after acquiring an additional 112,815 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in 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 valued at $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in Garmin by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,006,563 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $326,909,000 after purchasing an additional 11,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,735,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $282,761,000 after purchasing an additional 13,968 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $207.15 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $119.15 and a 12-month high of $222.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.66.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for 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%. Garmin’s revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

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.