LPL Financial LLC Acquires 18,708 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 22.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,635 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,708 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.05% of Garmin worth $20,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 578.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $213.59 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.03. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $138.86 and a one year high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

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.