Optimize Financial Inc Buys New Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,942 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $607,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Garmin by 19.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 36,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $6,406,000 after acquiring an additional 5,989 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 15,584 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,743,000 after purchasing an additional 2,883 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Garmin during the third quarter valued at about $668,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in Garmin by 9.3% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,800 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Garmin in the third quarter valued at about $482,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN traded up $1.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $190.53. 804,193 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 883,454. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $138.86 and a one year high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $36.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $209.92 and a 200-day moving average of $204.31.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GRMN. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a "sell" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three equities research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $202.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.