Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Acquired by Colonial Trust Co SC

Colonial Trust Co SC grew its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $72,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,545 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Crestline Management LP acquired a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,295,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Garmin by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,688,000 after purchasing an additional 6,145 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP raised its stake in Garmin by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 3,403 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $291,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total value of $1,044,762.47. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,579,799.50. This trade represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last 90 days. 15.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $191.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $36.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $200.18 and its 200-day moving average is $207.20. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $158.38 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.80.

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.