Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 35,703 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,703 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Garmin worth $22,755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 123.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $49,889,000 after purchasing an additional 156,441 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at $508,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at $695,000. Trajan Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 9.1% in the third quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 82,362 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $14,498,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 24.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,086,000 after buying an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock traded up $3.57 on Friday, reaching $208.99. 2,543,632 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 863,044. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.16. The company has a market cap of $40.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $119.15 and a one year high of $222.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 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 the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GRMN. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered Garmin from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.