Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Holdings Lifted by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 527.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,928 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 21,798 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $396,184,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Garmin by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Garmin by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $82,121,000 after buying an additional 247,726 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,421,000 after acquiring an additional 164,818 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.6 %

GRMN opened at $191.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $200.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.20. The firm has a market cap of $36.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $158.38 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 47.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.80.

Garmin Company 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.