Bellecapital International Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,146 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,185 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Up 2.2 %

GRMN opened at $228.88 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $136.25 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The company has a market capitalization of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.77.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,579,799.50. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,274 shares of company stock valued at $5,242,686 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GRMN. Barclays boosted 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 upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin 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.