WBI Investments LLC Takes $982,000 Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

WBI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,639 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $982,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 213.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,342,000 after buying an additional 28,301 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Services bought a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $2,365,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 42.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $13,191,000 after buying an additional 37,532 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,691,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 30,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,861,000 after acquiring an additional 6,939 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of Garmin stock traded up $1.28 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $163.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 347,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 915,479. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $171.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $152.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.26. The stock has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 623,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Barrington Research raised their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

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.