Inspire Investing LLC Trims Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,520 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Garmin by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,592 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,869,000 after buying an additional 2,579 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Garmin by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,982 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $975,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,948 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Garmin by 4.2% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 277,467 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $45,330,000 after purchasing an additional 11,142 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $216.18 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $119.15 and a 12 month high of $222.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $211.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.46. The stock has a market cap of $41.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Garmin 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.