TCW Group Inc. Boosts Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,343 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $7,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.3% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Garmin by 17.6% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 542 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,168 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 3.4% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Garmin by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Garmin news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was 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 approximately $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN stock traded up $1.24 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $172.06. The company had a trading volume of 728,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 852,055. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $179.76. The company has a market capitalization of $33.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.65.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin currently 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.