Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 9,141 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 53.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,396 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,141 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $5,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $88,937,000 after buying an additional 128,672 shares during the last quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 148,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $30,724,000 after acquiring an additional 4,616 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 47.2% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $127,000. Finally, BankPlus Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $668,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $194.80.

Garmin Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $203.81. The company had a trading volume of 97,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 877,968. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $198.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.60. The stock has a market cap of $39.24 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $158.38 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. Garmin's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin's payout ratio is 47.37%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company's stock.

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.