HM Payson & Co. Acquires 5,199 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 28,883.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,217 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,199 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,741 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,659,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $321,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Garmin by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,161 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,795,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Garmin by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 44,663 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $9,212,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total value of $1,044,762.47. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock worth $5,242,686. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN stock opened at $219.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $216.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.50. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week 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 the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial increased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Company 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.