AXQ Capital LP Purchases Shares of 4,898 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 4,898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,010,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Garmin by 55.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 256,712 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $52,950,000 after acquiring an additional 91,402 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 60,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $12,433,000 after purchasing an additional 2,841 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 46.0% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,560 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,003,000 after purchasing an additional 4,589 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $127,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $457,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $209.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $216.96 and its 200 day moving average is $201.51. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.