Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Holdings Increased by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 79.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159,860 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.19% of Garmin worth $74,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth about $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $208.90 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $40.19 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $201.28.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $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 sold a total of 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364 in the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.