O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Has $2.12 Million Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 30.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,286 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,413 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bcwm LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,189,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Garmin by 229.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,203 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,992,000 after acquiring an additional 16,850 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $172,000. QSV Equity Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Finally, Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $933,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $178.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.60. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $138.86 and a 52-week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 target price of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.