California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 6,858 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,858 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.49% of Garmin worth $119,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 169.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 35.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $2,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 758,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944. Insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barrington Research lifted their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.33.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $142.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $94.89 and a 12 month high of $149.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.10.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

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.