Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,703 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $22,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,018 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,014 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 118,699 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $19,338,000 after acquiring an additional 4,011 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Garmin by 0.3% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 33,897 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,522,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $205.42 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $119.15 and a twelve month high of $222.97. The firm has a market cap of $39.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.16.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. 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 posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. 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 research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’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 value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.