Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,859 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 1.2% in 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 increased its position in Garmin by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $913,544,000 after buying an additional 75,332 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $396,184,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in 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 valued at $352,475,000 after buying an additional 149,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Garmin by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $1,605,471.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total value of $399,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at $6,266,390. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 15.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $214.75.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN traded up $2.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $227.94. 807,675 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 952,059. The company's fifty day moving average price is $206.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.47. The company has a market cap of $43.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $160.71 and a one year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.21% and a net margin of 22.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Garmin's payout ratio is presently 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.