Geode Capital Management LLC Has $913.54 Million Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 75,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.31% of Garmin worth $913,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Garmin by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,216,819,000 after acquiring an additional 134,303 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $396,184,000. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in Garmin by 3.6% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $246,619,000 after acquiring an additional 48,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 889,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $183,538,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $218.24 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.69. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $138.86 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $41.99 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 49.25%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % 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 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted 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, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

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.