National Bank of Canada FI Buys 52,578 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 60.8% during the first quarter, owning a total of 139,011 shares valued at approximately $30.2 million.
• Garmin reported earnings of $2.17 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.90 and marking a 20.4% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $3.60 with a yield of 1.5%.

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 60.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 139,011 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 52,578 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.07% of Garmin worth $30,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 31.3% during the 4th 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Garmin by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,771,000 after buying an additional 1,669 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew 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 buying an additional 2,311 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,142,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,795,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE GRMN traded up $4.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $233.09. 587,206 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 904,124. The firm has a market cap of $44.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $160.94 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $216.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.67.

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 company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 23.21% and a return on equity of 20.00%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $6,266,390. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 price objective (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

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.