Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Grows Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 11.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,178 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Garmin were worth $622,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Kingdon Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Garmin in the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,307,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Garmin during the first quarter worth about $849,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Garmin by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 839,537 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $124,982,000 after purchasing an additional 141,001 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,117,000. Finally, Bellevue Group AG acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter worth approximately $417,000. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN traded down $8.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.25. 1,929,560 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 856,818. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $165.10 and its 200-day moving average is $149.87. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $179.76. The company has a market cap of $32.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the 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 directly owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.