Bayesian Capital Management LP Invests $849,000 in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $849,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Garmin by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $939,642,000 after purchasing an additional 63,278 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Garmin by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $220,541,000 after acquiring an additional 45,242 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after acquiring an additional 54,001 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $119,838,000 after purchasing an additional 6,858 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN traded up $2.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $178.82. 700,480 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 845,831. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $99.61 and a 12-month high of $179.76. The firm has a market cap of $34.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.48.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America cut Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.83.

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.