Groupama Asset Managment Purchases 3,921 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 85.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,533 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 3,921 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 123,091 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,389,000 after acquiring an additional 76,423 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Garmin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $913,544,000 after purchasing an additional 75,332 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Garmin by 454.6% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 86,433 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,831,000 after buying an additional 70,849 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 142,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,369,000 after buying an additional 6,910 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Garmin Trading Up 0.3 %

GRMN opened at $218.24 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $217.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.69. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $41.99 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’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 transaction 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. This represents 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. Company 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.