Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 4,425 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. by 16.0%, owning a total of 32,000 shares valued at approximately $6.95 million as of the end of the last reporting period.
• Significant activity among institutional investors was noted, with Aster Capital Management raising its stake by 864.3% and TFC Financial Management increasing its stake by 1,633.3%.
• Garmin announced a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, which translates to an annual yield of 1.6%, with a declared payout ratio of 47.37%.

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 32,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,425 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Garmin were worth $6,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Garmin by 25,047.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 885,456 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $192,259,000 after buying an additional 881,935 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in Garmin by 673.4% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 441,318 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $95,823,000 after buying an additional 384,258 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Garmin by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in Garmin by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $82,121,000 after buying an additional 247,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $39,748,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN traded up $1.51 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $229.76. 435,892 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 952,160. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $160.94 and a 52-week high of $246.50. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $213.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.15. The company has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 23.21%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research 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 MarketBeat, Garmin currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $222.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 29,146 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,266,390. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.