Ieq Capital LLC Grows Stake in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. by 98.6%, acquiring an additional 33,448 shares, bringing its total to 67,376 shares worth approximately $14.63 million.
• Garmin's stock performance showed a strong quarterly result, with an EPS of $2.17, beating estimates, and revenue growth of 20.4% year-over-year.
• Garmin has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, reflecting a 1.5% annual dividend yield, with a payout ratio of 44.39%.

Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 98.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,376 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 33,448 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $14,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GRMN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 219,743 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $45,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $621,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,531,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,202 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.48, for a total value of $2,371,760.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,092 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,390,668.16. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the firm's 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 of the company's stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 19,960 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,918. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 price objective (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $222.00.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $242.01. 1,246,430 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 781,451. The company has a market cap of $46.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company's 50 day moving average is $224.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.37. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $160.94 and a 1 year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. Garmin has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.000-8.000 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.