WBI Investments LLC Buys Shares of 1,821 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,261,000 after buying an additional 2,345 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 71.6% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,718 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 1,134 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,338,000. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $440,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 15.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $204.90 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $158.38 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $39.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $198.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.64.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $194.80.

Garmin 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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