Benjamin Edwards Inc. Boosts Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 16,646.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,186 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 38,952 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Garmin were worth $6,899,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its position in Garmin by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 6,686 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.5% during the second 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 buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Garmin by 2.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN traded down $1.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $212.10. 124,819 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 857,297. The company has a market cap of $40.73 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $187.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.83. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $119.15 and a 12-month high of $216.44.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GRMN. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Garmin from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $162.67.

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.