Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Takes Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,206 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in Garmin by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,189 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 466 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GRMN. Barrington Research raised their price objective on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $97,349,344.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $169.96 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $99.61 and a 12-month high of $170.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $147.24 and its 200-day moving average is $130.80. The company has a market capitalization of $32.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.31%.

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.