Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Bought by Tidal Investments LLC

Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 671.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 104,417 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 90,887 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $21,537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GRMN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $396,184,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,394,000 after acquiring an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 164.7% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $82,121,000 after acquiring an additional 247,726 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,726,645,000 after purchasing an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of Garmin by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction 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 $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial upped 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.80.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $205.11 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $158.38 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $198.41 and a 200 day moving average of $208.59.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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 given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 47.37%.

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.