Versant Capital Management Inc Boosts Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 78.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 493 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Garmin were worth $102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 123.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after buying an additional 156,441 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Garmin in the second quarter worth approximately $508,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $695,000. Trajan Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 82,362 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,498,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GRMN. Barclays boosted their price target on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of 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 note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Three investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE GRMN opened at $207.15 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $119.15 and a 12 month high of $222.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $208.66 and its 200 day moving average is $183.66. The stock has a market cap of $39.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin 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.