Miller Financial Services LLC Makes New Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Miller Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 3,089 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $637,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its holdings in Garmin by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $788,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock worth $5,242,686. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Stock Down 1.9 %

Garmin stock opened at $215.11 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The company has a market capitalization of $41.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $216.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.91.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

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.