Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $3.34 Million Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 54.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 19,117 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $3,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 64.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,171 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its holdings in Garmin by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,824 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GRMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Three 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.3 %

GRMN stock opened at $217.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $212.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.24. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $119.15 and a 1 year high of $222.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.