Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Makes New Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 16,397 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,382,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,216,819,000 after purchasing an additional 134,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $765,912,000 after purchasing an additional 112,815 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $246,619,000 after buying an additional 48,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 889,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $183,538,000 after acquiring an additional 14,200 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $208.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $40.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $138.86 and a 52-week high of $246.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $217.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.28.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on 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 issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

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.