Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Acquired by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,125 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Garmin by 578.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $215.78 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $216.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $200.26. 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 $41.52 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.