Aquatic Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,424 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 864.3% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $202.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $204.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $144.41 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $205.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.22.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.25%.

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.