Deutsche Bank AG Grows Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 506,675 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,640 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.26% of Garmin worth $104,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares during the last quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 148,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,724,000 after purchasing an additional 4,616 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 47.2% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,872,000 after buying an additional 2,910 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, BankPlus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $668,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $191.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.88 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.52. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $158.38 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last quarter. 15.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.80.

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.