Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Raises Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 26,859 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Garmin were worth $3,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Garmin by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $939,642,000 after purchasing an additional 63,278 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $220,541,000 after purchasing an additional 45,242 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Garmin by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $166,021,000 after purchasing an additional 54,001 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Garmin by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $119,838,000 after purchasing an additional 6,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $160.20. 198,900 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 862,377. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $99.61 and a 1 year high of $171.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.74. The stock has a market cap of $30.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America cut Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.83.

About Garmin

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.