Diversified Trust Co Buys Shares of 3,561 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,561 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $734,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 6.1% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $690,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at about $968,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth about $5,390,000. Prudential PLC grew its stake in Garmin by 119.6% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 3,033 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin by 261.6% in the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 5,620 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 4,066 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN traded down $2.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $209.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 742,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 685,378. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $119.15 and a fifty-two week high of $222.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $210.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.02.

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

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $171.00.

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.