Paloma Partners Management Co Makes New Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,505 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $939,642,000 after purchasing an additional 63,278 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $220,541,000 after purchasing an additional 45,242 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after purchasing an additional 54,001 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $119,838,000 after purchasing an additional 6,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Trading Down 0.8 %

GRMN stock traded down $1.38 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $176.56. 758,459 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 846,211. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $99.61 and a 12-month high of $178.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $164.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.98.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GRMN. StockNews.com lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.83.

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.