Hartford Investment Management Co. Purchases New Stake in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Hartford Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,607 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth $410,304,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 6.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,698,329 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,111,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273,163 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 138.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,158,702 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $247,255,000 after buying an additional 671,859 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 6.4% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,892,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,229,810,000 after buying an additional 356,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 643.3% during the 2nd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 202,874 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $42,344,000 after buying an additional 175,582 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 3,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.40, for a total transaction of $773,851.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 61,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,002,299.20. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 10,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.23, for a total value of $2,151,185.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 135,180 shares in the company, valued at $27,878,171.40. This trade represents a 7.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 16,594 shares of company stock worth $3,437,592 over the last quarter. 15.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $205.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $39.45 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.57. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $169.26 and a 1 year high of $261.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Friday, December 19th. Longbow Research upgraded shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $193.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Garmin from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $208.00 to $217.00 in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.40.

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.