Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Purchased by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,220 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth $53,252,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 1,580.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 287,283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,570,000 after acquiring an additional 270,186 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 123.8% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 486,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $85,600,000 after acquiring an additional 268,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in Garmin in the third quarter valued at $45,501,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $217.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $213.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.33. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $120.06 and a 12-month high of $223.33.

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.