Peterson Wealth Services Takes $2.37 Million Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Peterson Wealth Services purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 18,401 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 213.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,342,000 after acquiring an additional 28,301 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 42.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $13,191,000 after acquiring an additional 37,532 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $8,691,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 369.6% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 11,087 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Garmin by 62.7% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,449 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $6,044,000 after acquiring an additional 22,130 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE GRMN traded up $0.31 during trading on Thursday, reaching $141.38. 107,659 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 914,313. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $94.89 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,349,344.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Barrington Research lifted their target price on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

Garmin Company 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.