Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 3,300 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,101 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $8,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its position in shares of Garmin by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $222.59 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $213.43 and its 200 day moving average is $195.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $133.16 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Company 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.