Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $468,000 Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 82.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,027 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its position in Garmin by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.80.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN stock opened at $188.28 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $158.38 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $36.25 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $201.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.84.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 47.37%.

Insider Activity 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, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last three months. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company’s stock.

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.