Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Takes $223,000 Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $904,000. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. now owns 225,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $46,484,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,749,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Garmin by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,039 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Garmin by 56.1% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,396 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $214.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $216.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.56. The stock has a market cap of $41.18 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors 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 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays boosted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Garmin

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.