Baird Financial Group Inc. Sells 4,954 Shares of Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 15.8%, selling 4,954 shares and holding 26,493 shares worth approximately $5.75 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• In the first quarter, other institutional investors also adjusted their positions, with notable increases from TFC Financial Management and new stakes from Groupe la Francaise and Wayfinding Financial LLC.
• Garmin reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $2.17, exceeding estimates and a year-over-year revenue growth of 20.4%, while analysts have mixed ratings and price targets for the stock.

Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 15.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,493 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 4,954 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 82.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $291,000. Centiva Capital LP grew its stake in Garmin by 39.8% during the fourth quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 3,403 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Garmin by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $5,688,000 after purchasing an additional 6,145 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total value of $399,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 29,146 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,266,390. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,960 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,918. Corporate insiders own 15.38% of the company's stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock traded down $2.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $236.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 852,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 790,793. The company has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $229.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.37. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $160.94 and a one year high of $246.50.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reissued 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $222.00.

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.