Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Acquired by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 793,914 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,634 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.41% of Garmin worth $129,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $54,460,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,999,000. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the first quarter worth $38,727,000. SW Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $28,279,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after acquiring an additional 190,739 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GRMN. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.17.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 0.4 %

GRMN opened at $171.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $174.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.32. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $184.42. The company has a market cap of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released 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. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current 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.