Groupama Asset Managment Buys 3,921 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 85.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,533 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,921 shares during the quarter. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of 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. increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 in the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN opened at $218.24 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $41.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.69.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

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.