Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,724 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 136.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 711,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $115,177,000 after acquiring an additional 411,084 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth $45,999,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $178,958,000 after purchasing an additional 278,990 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the first quarter valued at about $38,727,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in Garmin during the third quarter worth about $45,501,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $181.00 to $133.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on 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 shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.50.

Garmin Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $167.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $99.61 and a 52-week high of $184.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.74.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.