Columbia Asset Management Takes $206,000 Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Columbia Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Garmin in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $217.48 on Wednesday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $217.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.59. The firm has a market cap of $41.84 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

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.