4,489 Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Acquired by SRN Advisors LLC

SRN Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,489 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $926,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,185 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $681,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Garmin by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 104,340 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $21,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,618 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,533,000. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $226.39 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $214.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.97. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $134.01 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its 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. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.