Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Position in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 56,104 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,327,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Groupe la Francaise raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 346.4% in the first quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 125 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new position in Garmin in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $285.70 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.87. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $186.67 and a 52 week high of $314.28.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 24.47% and a return on equity of 20.95%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GRMN. Wall Street Zen cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Zacks Research raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $238.00 to $297.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group set a $370.00 price target on Garmin in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Garmin from $249.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.17.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.88, for a total value of $288,779.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,763,430.48. The trade was a 14.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 9,941 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.36, for a total value of $2,975,937.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,832,916.16. This trade represents a 25.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 18,751 shares of company stock valued at $5,454,095. 14.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.