Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys 39,901 Shares of Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 49.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 120,166 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,901 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $27,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter worth about $325,000. Weiss Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in Garmin by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP now owns 27,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,473,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its position in Garmin by 19.0% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 19,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,456,000 after buying an additional 3,072 shares in the last quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp acquired a new position in Garmin in the first quarter valued at about $327,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in Garmin by 37.1% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 16,461 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,819,000 after buying an additional 4,458 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, Director Joseph J. Hartnett sold 643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.57, for a total transaction of $169,475.51. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,607,978.89. This represents a 2.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.91, for a total transaction of $475,820.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 26,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,197,317.59. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 14.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $253.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $239.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $235.51. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $186.67 and a 52 week high of $273.32.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.24. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.07% and a net margin of 23.26%.The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley set a $249.00 price objective on shares of Garmin in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Garmin from $240.00 to $238.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.40.

Garmin Company Profile

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company best known for designing and manufacturing navigation, communication and information devices that leverage global positioning system (GPS) technology. The company serves a diverse set of markets including consumer fitness and wearables, automotive navigation, aviation avionics, marine electronics and outdoor handheld devices. Garmin’s products combine hardware, mapping and software services to deliver location-aware solutions for personal, recreational and professional uses.

Garmin’s product lineup includes wearable fitness and multisport watches (Forerunner, Fenix, Venu), cycling computers and accessories (Edge, Varia), handheld and handheld-mounted GPS devices for outdoor activities, automotive and portable navigation units, marine chartplotters and fishfinders, and certified avionics for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.