Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 68.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 82,894 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,812 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Garmin were worth $10,655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 169.5% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $142.80 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $141.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.21. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.54. The company has a market cap of $27.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 43.52%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total transaction of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total transaction of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barrington Research upped their target price on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.33.

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.