AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 411,084 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 136.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 711,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 411,084 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.37% of Garmin worth $115,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Garmin by 0.5% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position 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. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 17.6% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 542 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 5.8% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GRMN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays cut 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 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.17.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $174.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $163.18. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $184.42. The company has a market cap of $33.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.00.

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