Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Acquired by Unison Advisors LLC

Unison Advisors LLC grew its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,523 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the quarter. Garmin makes up approximately 0.4% of Unison Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Unison Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Garmin by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $162.05. 21,322 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 869,293. The company has a market cap of $31.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $159.89 and its 200-day moving average is $142.23. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $99.61 and a 52 week high of $171.64.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

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.