Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 2,813 Shares of Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 1.7% during the first quarter, now owning roughly 0.09% of the company valued at approximately $36.89 million.
• Insider trading saw CFO Douglas G. Boessen and CEO Clifton A. Pemble sell significant shares, with Boessen reducing his ownership by 6% and Pemble by 5.28% during recent transactions.
• Garmin reported strong quarterly earnings with $2.17 EPS, exceeding estimates, and a revenue increase of 20.4% year-over-year, while analysts maintain an average rating of "Hold" for the stock.

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 169,902 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.09% of Garmin worth $36,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 1,633.3% in the first quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 156 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in Garmin in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

Garmin Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Garmin stock traded down $3.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $238.07. 528,634 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 797,916. The company has a market cap of $45.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.48. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $160.94 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 23.21% and a return on equity of 20.00%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. Garmin has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.000-8.000 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.48, for a total transaction of $2,371,760.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 36,092 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,390,668.16. This represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,960 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,918 in the last 90 days. 15.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.