EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Grows Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 66.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,066 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,034 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,137,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $734,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after acquiring an additional 128,672 shares during the period. Baskin Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 148,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,724,000 after acquiring an additional 4,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $218.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $217.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.32. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $138.86 and a 1 year high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total transaction of $1,044,762.47. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,579,799.50. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Garmin 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.