Merit Financial Group LLC Takes $1.34 Million Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,488 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,338,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Garmin by 578.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GRMN. Barclays increased their price target on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $215.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $119.15 and a 1-year high of $222.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $211.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.48.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 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.