Bellevue Group AG Buys Shares of 2,800 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Bellevue Group AG acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,800 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the first quarter worth $30,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN traded down $0.93 during trading on Monday, reaching $177.01. 282,225 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 843,399. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $164.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $178.51.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.83.

Insider Activity at Garmin

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

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.