Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,134 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,257 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $215.78 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $216.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $200.26. The company has a market capitalization of $41.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.52, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364 over the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.