Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Has $9.18 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 56,263 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Garmin were worth $9,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 1st quarter valued at $1,389,000. LBP AM SA raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 81.4% in the first quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 7,284 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 3,268 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 3.5% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 173,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $25,861,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Garmin by 51.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,395 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,227,000 after purchasing an additional 9,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Garmin by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 178,073 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,500,000 after buying an additional 7,553 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut 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 research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.17.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was 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 $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value 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 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174 over the last three months. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN stock opened at $171.76 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $174.44 and a 200-day moving average of $162.10. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $184.42. The company has a market capitalization of $32.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The company’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS for the current 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.