Park National Corp OH Takes Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Park National Corp OH purchased a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,050 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 73.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

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

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $211.25 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $119.15 and a one year high of $222.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $210.46 and its 200 day moving average is $184.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GRMN. StockNews.com lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

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.