Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Makes New $1.73 Million Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 13,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,729,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in Garmin by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,246,834 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $762,367,000 after buying an additional 176,510 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Garmin by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,630,148 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $171,492,000 after buying an additional 108,427 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Garmin by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,411,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $148,459,000 after buying an additional 136,929 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Garmin by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $119,838,000 after buying an additional 6,858 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 813,137 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $85,542,000 after buying an additional 33,580 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Garmin from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $142.33.

Garmin Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GRMN traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $143.45. 614,651 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 935,065. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.32. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $95.40 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54. The company has a market capitalization of $27.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 653,834 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.