Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC Makes New Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,447 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,160 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $253,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Garmin by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,009 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $20,486,000 after purchasing an additional 13,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 129,846 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $16,691,000 after purchasing an additional 10,621 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $182.73 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $173.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.88. The company has a market capitalization of $35.12 billion, a PE ratio of 25.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $99.61 and a 52 week high of $184.42.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current 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 paid 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 dividend yield of 1.64%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Garmin 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.