KBC Group NV Sells 162,538 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

KBC Group NV reduced its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 79.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,175 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 162,538 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Garmin were worth $8,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. State Street Corp lifted its position in Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,216,819,000 after purchasing an additional 134,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $765,912,000 after acquiring an additional 112,815 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in 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 worth $664,540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in Garmin by 3.6% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $246,619,000 after acquiring an additional 48,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Garmin by 4.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 767,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $135,143,000 after purchasing an additional 30,011 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $214.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $119.15 and a 12-month high of $222.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $212.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.07.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target 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. Three investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.