Greenleaf Trust Acquires 87 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Garmin were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,423,000. Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,365,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,445 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,728,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $229,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $207,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Barrington Research upped their target price on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.33.

Garmin Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $142.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.10. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.54.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 623,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $91,173,339.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last three months. Insiders own 19.89% 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.