Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 866 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Garmin were worth $1,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 9.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 17,998 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,168,000 after buying an additional 1,607 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 11.0% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,318 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 8.3% during the third quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 20,111 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 6.8% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 9,554 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Garmin by 560.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 203,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,860,000 after purchasing an additional 172,883 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $208.43 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $118.51 and a 52-week high of $215.55.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced 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. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.67.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,479 shares of company stock valued at $2,419,502 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.