Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stake in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 305,655 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,826 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $75,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Garmin by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,017 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 3,757 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Garmin by 51.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 6,811 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin by 17.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GRMN. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Garmin from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Longbow Research raised Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Garmin from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.00.

Garmin Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of GRMN opened at $241.56 on Wednesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $169.26 and a 1-year high of $261.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $219.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.40. Garmin had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.41 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Garmin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.350-9.350 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 12th will be given a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 12th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 3,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.66, for a total value of $877,538.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 28,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,058,811.34. This represents a 11.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,694 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.65, for a total value of $1,684,545.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 58,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,731,591. This trade represents a 10.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 57,319 shares of company stock worth $13,650,815 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Profile

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company best known for designing and manufacturing navigation, communication and information devices that leverage global positioning system (GPS) technology. The company serves a diverse set of markets including consumer fitness and wearables, automotive navigation, aviation avionics, marine electronics and outdoor handheld devices. Garmin’s products combine hardware, mapping and software services to deliver location-aware solutions for personal, recreational and professional uses.

Garmin’s product lineup includes wearable fitness and multisport watches (Forerunner, Fenix, Venu), cycling computers and accessories (Edge, Varia), handheld and handheld-mounted GPS devices for outdoor activities, automotive and portable navigation units, marine chartplotters and fishfinders, and certified avionics for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.