EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Raises Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 66.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,066 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,034 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its stake in Garmin by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $802,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $788,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Up 1.9 %

Garmin stock opened at $218.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $217.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.32. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders 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 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value 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 approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.