BankPlus Trust Department Makes New Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,517 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Garmin by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 3,779 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of Garmin by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 42,101 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,684,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $226,000. TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in Garmin by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 50,906 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $10,500,000 after buying an additional 2,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $329,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.80.

Garmin Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE GRMN opened at $224.67 on Monday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $131.20 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $213.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.73. The firm has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. Research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.