Fmr LLC Purchases 1,093,219 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Fmr LLC boosted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 40.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $664,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.6% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 valued at $282,761,000 after buying an additional 13,968 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,799,000 after buying an additional 58,343 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 34.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $178,958,000 after acquiring an additional 278,990 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Garmin by 2.3% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 793,914 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $129,345,000 after acquiring an additional 17,634 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $212.09 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $119.15 and a 12-month high of $216.44. The firm has a market cap of $40.73 billion, a PE ratio of 26.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.15.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GRMN. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.67.

About Garmin

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.