Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Makes New $969,000 Investment in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,776 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Garmin by 2.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,197,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,973,044,000 after acquiring an additional 499,235 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,250,844 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,785,304,000 after purchasing an additional 126,677 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth $410,304,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Garmin by 1.1% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,494,519 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $367,964,000 after buying an additional 16,622 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position in shares of Garmin by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,419,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $296,250,000 after buying an additional 5,213 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $241.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $224.70 and a 200-day moving average of $221.72. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $169.26 and a 1-year high of $261.69.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. Garmin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.350-9.350 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 12th will be paid a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 12th. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays set a $240.00 target price on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.65, for a total transaction of $1,684,545.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 58,540 shares in the company, valued at $14,731,591. This represents a 10.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Matthew Munn sold 5,275 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.97, for a total value of $1,323,866.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,478,579.72. The trade was a 34.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 44,403 shares of company stock worth $10,987,074 over the last three months. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin 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.