Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 94.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,618 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,130 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $2,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its stake in Garmin by 15.3% during the first quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 16,753 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,638,000 after purchasing an additional 2,218 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Garmin during the first quarter worth approximately $57,000. Green Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 2.2% during the first quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 6,898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,498,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Garmin by 5.9% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 35,284 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $7,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,976 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the first quarter worth approximately $288,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $206.00.

Garmin Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $205.32 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $195.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.05. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $158.38 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $39.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 15.38% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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