Garmin Ltd. $GRMN Stake Lifted by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank lifted its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 89.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,453 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,419 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupe la Francaise increased its position in shares of Garmin by 346.4% during the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 125 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Reflection Asset Management bought a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in Garmin during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin in the first quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $276.90 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $273.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.44. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $186.67 and a twelve month high of $314.28. The stock has a market cap of $53.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.85.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 24.47%.Garmin’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 4,029 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $1,208,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 120,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,038,100. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 9,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,506 shares in the company, valued at $8,832,916.16. This represents a 25.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,108 shares of company stock worth $4,808,799. Insiders own 14.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. UBS Group set a $370.00 price target on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.17.

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.