Townsquare Capital LLC Grows Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Garmin Ltd. shares by 268.0% during the first quarter, now owning 14,916 shares valued at approximately $3.24 million.
• Garmin recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, with a 1.6% yield, to be paid on September 26th.
• During the last quarter, Garmin reported a 20.4% year-over-year revenue increase to $1.81 billion, surpassing analyst estimates, with an earnings per share of $2.17.

Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 268.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,916 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,863 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $3,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $32,795,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 55.2% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 9,347 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 48,254 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $9,953,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Barclays reaffirmed 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $222.00.

Garmin Stock Down 1.1%

Garmin stock traded down $2.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $232.48. The stock had a trading volume of 260,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 941,108. The stock's 50 day moving average is $217.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.99. 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 $44.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 23.21%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. Garmin's revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,266,390. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of Garmin 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 141,626 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 15.38% of the stock is currently owned by 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.