Eastern Bank Boosts Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• Eastern Bank has increased its investment in Garmin Ltd. by 100% during the first quarter, buying an additional 1,500 shares, leading to a total of 3,000 shares valued at $651,000.
• CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of Garmin for approximately $1.6 million, representing a 5.28% decrease in his position, while CFO Douglas G. Boessen also sold shares, reducing his ownership by 6%.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Garmin's stock, with JPMorgan raising its price target to $250, while Barclays set a lower price objective of $152, reflecting mixed sentiments about the company's future performance.

Eastern Bank raised its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 100.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Eastern Bank's holdings in Garmin were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 60,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $12,433,000 after purchasing an additional 2,841 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in Garmin by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 4,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $994,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 8,707 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,796,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Garmin by 229.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,203 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,992,000 after acquiring an additional 16,850 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $1,605,471.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was 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. 15.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 price target (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

Garmin Stock Up 0.0%

GRMN stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $218.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,324,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 840,080. The company has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $160.71 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $212.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.02.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 23.21%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.