Planned Solutions Inc. Purchases New Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.7% during the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,909 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. BRYN MAWR TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.3% in the first quarter. BRYN MAWR TRUST Co now owns 2,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 5.3% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,207 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.4% in the second quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,688 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.4% in the first quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,645 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $147.98 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.42. The company has a market cap of $28.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $133.09 and a 200-day moving average of $121.70.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barrington Research lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Garmin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.50.

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.