Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Acquires 128,672 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128,672 shares during the quarter. Garmin accounts for about 1.1% of Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Garmin worth $88,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 578.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $217.59 on Wednesday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $119.15 and a fifty-two week high of $222.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $211.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.72. The stock has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley cut Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% 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.