Garmin Ltd. $GRMN Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 5.7%, holding 54,808 shares valued at approximately $11.90 million as reported in their recent SEC filing.
• Garmin reported $2.17 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, with an annual revenue growth of 20.4%, amounting to $1.81 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.5% and a payout ratio of 44.39%.

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,808 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $11,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 50.1% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 4,053 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $836,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,992 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 108.0% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 185,893 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $38,342,000 after acquiring an additional 96,525 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at $6,266,390. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $222.00.

Garmin Stock Up 2.9%

Garmin stock traded up $6.7650 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $236.3550. 83,672 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 930,243. The company has a market cap of $45.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $160.94 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $219.91 and a 200-day moving average of $210.53.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 23.21% and a return on equity of 20.00%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. Garmin has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.000-8.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. 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.