Allianz Asset Management GmbH Increases Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 32.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned 0.35% of Garmin worth $139,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 3.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 34,736 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 111.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 172.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 48,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,511,000 after buying an additional 30,598 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the third quarter valued at approximately $176,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $228.61 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $212.99 and its 200 day moving average is $194.84. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $128.89 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $195.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.