Aquatic Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,424 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,531,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in Garmin by 864.3% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $194.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % 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 in the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Stock Down 1.1 %

Garmin stock traded down $2.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $189.75. The company had a trading volume of 131,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,015,202. The company has a 50 day moving average of $203.74 and a 200-day moving average of $206.95. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $158.38 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $36.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.37%.

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.