Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 6,910 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,910 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.07% of Garmin worth $29,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total value of $1,044,762.47. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,579,799.50. The trade was a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Garmin Stock Down 3.9 %

Garmin stock opened at $178.18 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $216.05 and a 200-day moving average of $203.83. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.25%.

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.