abrdn plc Grows Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 59.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 84,425 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 31,413 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Garmin were worth $10,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 169.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $143.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a PEG ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $94.89 and a 12 month high of $149.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $142.08 and its 200 day moving average is $127.32.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business 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 $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 2.10%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total transaction of $2,233,350.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares in the company, valued at $97,349,344.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.33.

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.