Garmin Ltd. $GRMN Stock: Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stake

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,156 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,883 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $17,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Garmin by 121.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 107,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,041,000 after buying an additional 59,229 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Garmin during the second quarter worth $1,447,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Garmin by 51.2% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 351,241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,491,000 after acquiring an additional 119,011 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new stake in Garmin during the second quarter worth $1,237,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in Garmin by 198.8% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 7,452 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,770,000 after acquiring an additional 4,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $289.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Garmin from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Arete Research started coverage on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Garmin from $297.00 to $277.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 9,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.36, for a total value of $2,975,937.76. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 29,506 shares in the company, valued at $8,832,916.16. The trade was a 25.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 14.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $293.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.90. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $186.67 and a 12 month high of $314.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $282.31 and a 200-day moving average of $256.70.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.38. Garmin had a return on equity of 21.94% and a net margin of 25.58%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.99 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 10.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Profile

Garmin Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets navigation, communication and information devices and applications. Its products include GPS-enabled watches and fitness trackers, handheld outdoor navigation devices, marine electronics, aviation systems and automotive navigation technology. Founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao, Garmin serves consumers and businesses around the world. Its products are used in activities ranging from fitness and outdoor recreation to boating, aviation and transportation.