1,650 Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Acquired by Simmons Bank

Simmons Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,650 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 758,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Barrington Research lifted their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.50.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $169.96 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $147.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $130.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $170.87.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

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.