Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $8.83 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,827 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 3,641 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Garmin were worth $8,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 82.8% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 111,182 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $22,932,000 after purchasing an additional 32,495 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,972 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Westbourne Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $320,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $82,121,000 after buying an additional 247,726 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock traded up $1.14 on Wednesday, hitting $188.28. The stock had a trading volume of 928,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 874,822. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $201.46 and a 200 day moving average of $206.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $158.38 and a twelve month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Barclays reduced 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. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $194.80.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin 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 transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company's stock.

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.