Arizona State Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,328 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 3,339 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Garmin were worth $11,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin by 6.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 40.6% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,017 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 3,757 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 51.1% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 6,811 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 2,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Garmin by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $201.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $38.75 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.00. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $169.26 and a 12-month high of $261.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $204.58 and a 200 day moving average of $221.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.99. The business had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.42% and a net margin of 22.63%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 3,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.40, for a total value of $773,851.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 61,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,002,299.20. This trade represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 10,431 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.23, for a total value of $2,151,185.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 135,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,878,171.40. This represents a 7.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,594 shares of company stock worth $3,437,592. 15.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GRMN shares. Barclays raised shares of Garmin from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $208.00 to $217.00 in a report on Friday, January 16th. Longbow Research raised shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $193.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Friday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.40.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company best known for designing and manufacturing navigation, communication and information devices that leverage global positioning system (GPS) technology. The company serves a diverse set of markets including consumer fitness and wearables, automotive navigation, aviation avionics, marine electronics and outdoor handheld devices. Garmin’s products combine hardware, mapping and software services to deliver location-aware solutions for personal, recreational and professional uses.

Garmin’s product lineup includes wearable fitness and multisport watches (Forerunner, Fenix, Venu), cycling computers and accessories (Edge, Varia), handheld and handheld-mounted GPS devices for outdoor activities, automotive and portable navigation units, marine chartplotters and fishfinders, and certified avionics for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.