Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 658 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 658 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 169.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Garmin Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $142.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 188,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,554. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $141.30 and a 200-day moving average of $127.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $94.89 and a 12-month high of $149.54.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.71%.

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.