Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Bought by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 301,818 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 47,723 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.16% of Garmin worth $62,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $913,544,000 after purchasing an additional 75,332 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $396,184,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,708,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,475,000 after purchasing an additional 149,210 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,394,000 after purchasing an additional 286,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 15.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $206.00.

Garmin Stock Down 0.5%

GRMN stock traded down $1.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $200.52. The company had a trading volume of 535,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,112. The company has a market capitalization of $38.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $158.38 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $197.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.53.

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

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.