Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $32.80 Million Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 159,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,795,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.08% of Garmin at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its position in Garmin by 864.3% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GRMN. Barclays raised their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Garmin Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $189.26 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $209.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.31. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $36.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 49.25%.

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.