Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,289 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,039 shares during the quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $6,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $913,544,000 after acquiring an additional 75,332 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $396,184,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,708,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,475,000 after purchasing an additional 149,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 889,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $183,538,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock traded up $4.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $191.70. 826,626 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 875,286. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.93 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $158.38 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin's payout ratio is 47.37%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GRMN. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $194.80.

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.