FIL Ltd Increases Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 95.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,311 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Garmin were worth $975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 864.3% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $189.67 on Monday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $36.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $211.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.37.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

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.