Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 2,768 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. by 0.3%, now owning approximately 892,606 shares worth $193.8 million.
• Several institutional investors have modified their holdings, with 81.60% of Garmin’s stock owned by hedge funds and others, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Analysts have varied ratings for Garmin, with an average price target of $222.00, highlighting a mixed outlook on the stock's future performance.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 892,606 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,768 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.46% of Garmin worth $193,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds 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 holdings in Garmin by 673.4% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 441,318 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $95,823,000 after purchasing an additional 384,258 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,425,166 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,000,656,000 after acquiring an additional 357,458 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 286,765 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Garmin by 164.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Garmin Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of GRMN stock traded up $4.10 on Tuesday, reaching $233.09. 587,206 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 904,124. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $160.94 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $44.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $216.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.67.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction 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. 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.

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.