Eagle Ridge Investment Management Increases Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management raised its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 86,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 114 shares during the quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in Garmin were worth $11,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 213.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,342,000 after buying an additional 28,301 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $2,365,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $13,191,000 after purchasing an additional 37,532 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $8,691,000. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 369.6% during the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 11,087 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GRMN traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $144.38. The company had a trading volume of 262,856 shares, compared to its average volume of 926,746. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.85. The company has a market capitalization of $27.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $95.79 and a 12-month high of $149.54.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total transaction of $2,233,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares in the company, valued at $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,349,344.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Barrington Research increased 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. Five research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

About Garmin

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.