Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Acquired by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 560.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 203,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 172,883 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.11% of Garmin worth $35,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in Garmin by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,056 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,290,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded down $2.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $208.43. 684,860 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 860,138. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $179.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.87. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $118.51 and a 1 year high of $215.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $1.44 billion. 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. Research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other Garmin 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 value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. This trade represents a 19.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,479 shares of company stock worth $2,419,502. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Company Profile

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.