Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 4,471 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,471 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $922,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $440,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Garmin by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Garmin by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 41,791 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,620,000 after buying an additional 9,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $303,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Trading Up 0.3%

GRMN stock opened at $201.38 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $158.38 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The business’s 50-day moving average is $197.60 and its 200 day moving average is $208.56. The stock has a market cap of $38.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 15.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.00.

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.