4,206 Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Acquired by Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,206 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Garmin by 2.5% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 176,510 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Garmin by 7.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,630,148 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $171,492,000 after acquiring an additional 108,427 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 10.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,411,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $148,459,000 after acquiring an additional 136,929 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Garmin by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $119,838,000 after acquiring an additional 6,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 4.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 813,137 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,542,000 after acquiring an additional 33,580 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares in the company, valued at $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barrington Research increased their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.50.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $169.96 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $170.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $147.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $130.80. The company has a market cap of $32.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 1.77%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

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.