Allianz SE Buys New Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 830 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $172,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $217.41 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $138.86 and a 1 year high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $217.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.28.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.25%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

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

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.