Empirical Asset Management LLC Raises Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 57.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,260 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,641 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $1,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 71.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,718 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134 shares in the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $1,031,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Garmin from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $171.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.4 %

Garmin stock traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $215.50. The stock had a trading volume of 746,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 652,053. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.38 billion, a PE ratio of 27.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $119.15 and a 12 month high of $222.97. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $211.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.12.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.41 EPS. Garmin's revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

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.