Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys 2,577 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 8.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,532 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,577 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.5% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in Garmin by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 542 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on GRMN shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.17.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 in the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $175.81 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $99.61 and a 52-week high of $184.42. The company has a market capitalization of $33.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $174.60 and a 200-day moving average of $162.87.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.