Alterity Financial Group LLC Buys New Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Alterity Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 2,107 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $144,641,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 108.1% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,868,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $188,573,000 after purchasing an additional 970,527 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 195.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 987,042 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $117,073,000 after buying an additional 652,700 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,562,275 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,622,990,000 after buying an additional 527,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,276,118 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,049,121,000 after buying an additional 365,713 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Garmin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.50.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $148.93 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $94.89 and a 12 month high of $149.54. The company has a market capitalization of $28.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $133.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.89.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.52%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 in the last 90 days. 19.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.