Monte Financial Group LLC Sells 3,214 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Monte Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,193 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,214 shares during the period. Garmin makes up 2.5% of Monte Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Monte Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Garmin during the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $214.37 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $211.74 and its 200-day moving average is $188.64. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $119.15 and a one year high of $222.97. The firm has a market cap of $41.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $171.00.

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.