Sei Investments Co. Buys 91,402 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 55.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 256,712 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,402 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $52,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 123.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after buying an additional 156,441 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin by 24.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $734,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $209.78 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $216.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.81. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.