Allianz Asset Management GmbH Raises Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 32.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Garmin were worth $139,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,216,819,000 after purchasing an additional 134,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $765,912,000 after purchasing an additional 112,815 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 40.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.6% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $246,619,000 after purchasing an additional 48,645 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 767,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $135,143,000 after purchasing an additional 30,011 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $228.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.84. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $128.89 and a one 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 note on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.67.

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.