Varenne Capital Partners Takes $6.74 Million Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• Varenne Capital Partners has acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd., totaling approximately $6.74 million for 31,043 shares, making it the firm's 13th largest position.
• Garmin's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, with an EPS of $2.17, which is significantly up from $1.58 in the same quarter last year, alongside a 20.4% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, yielding an annualized 1.5%, with a payout ratio of 44.39%.

Varenne Capital Partners acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 31,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $6,740,000. Garmin comprises about 2.4% of Varenne Capital Partners' holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 25,047.9% in 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 buying an additional 881,935 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 673.4% in the first 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 buying an additional 384,258 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the first quarter valued at approximately $78,900,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,425,166 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,000,656,000 after buying an additional 357,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $399,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at $6,266,390. This trade represents a 6.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of Garmin 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 15.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $236.59 on Thursday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $217.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.85. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $160.94 and a one year high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $45.54 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.27. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 23.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. The company's revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

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.

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