Howard Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,095 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Howard Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,095 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,889,000 after purchasing an additional 156,441 shares during the last quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 9.1% during the third quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 82,362 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,498,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the third quarter worth $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 24.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after buying an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 25.7% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 284,065 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,004,000 after buying an additional 58,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $226.14 on Wednesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $133.16 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $213.89 and its 200 day moving average is $196.76.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly 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. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $206.80.

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.