QSV Equity Investors LLC Buys Shares of 1,089 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

QSV Equity Investors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,089 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock opened at $213.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $217.31 and a 200-day moving average of $202.73.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

About Garmin

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.