Quantbot Technologies LP Makes New $127,000 Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 618 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Garmin by 578.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $213.59 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $217.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.03. 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 Ltd. has a one year low of $138.86 and a one year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.25%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.