Williamson Legacy Group LLC Buys Shares of 1,838 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Williamson Legacy Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock opened at $228.88 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $136.25 and a 52-week high of $246.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $215.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This trade represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock worth $5,242,686 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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