Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,114 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $3,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in Garmin by 0.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 6,686 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,056 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 5.8% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $212.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $119.15 and a 1-year high of $216.44. The company has a 50-day moving average of $185.28 and a 200 day moving average of $174.89.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

About Garmin

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.