ING Groep NV Acquires Shares of 61,721 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 61,721 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,731,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 578.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Trading Down 5.5 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $228.61 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $128.89 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $212.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.07%.

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.