Eastern Bank Has $651,000 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 grew its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 100.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank's holdings in Garmin were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Garmin by 25,047.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 885,456 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $192,259,000 after purchasing an additional 881,935 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 673.4% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 441,318 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $95,823,000 after purchasing an additional 384,258 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the 4th 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 lifted its position in shares of 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. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $39,748,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. The trade was a 5.28% 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 insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Garmin Trading Up 2.0%

GRMN traded up $4.37 on Monday, reaching $223.10. The stock had a trading volume of 261,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 953,035. The company has a market capitalization of $42.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $160.71 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $212.65 and a 200-day moving average of $208.95.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. 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. 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 1.6%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.39%.

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.