Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Boosts Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 219,743 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 2,954 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.11% of Garmin worth $45,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter valued at about $3,137,000. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $734,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $88,937,000 after buying an additional 128,672 shares during the period. Baskin Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $30,724,000 after buying an additional 4,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 47.2% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,872,000 after buying an additional 2,910 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped 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, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $194.80.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN traded up $4.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $191.70. 826,626 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 875,286. The company has a market cap of $36.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $203.74 and a 200 day moving average of $206.39. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $158.38 and a one year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.37%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 in the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.