Ethic Inc. Buys 21,798 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 527.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,928 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,798 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $396,184,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Garmin by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in Garmin by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $82,121,000 after acquiring an additional 247,726 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after acquiring an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Garmin by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,421,000 after acquiring an additional 164,818 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $191.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $158.38 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $200.18 and its 200-day moving average is $207.20.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.80.

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.