Howard Capital Management Inc. Makes New $226,000 Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Howard Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,095 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 578.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $206.80.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $226.14 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.76. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $133.16 and a 52-week high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $43.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

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.