Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Raises Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 27.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,370 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Garmin were worth $695,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,216,819,000 after purchasing an additional 134,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $765,912,000 after purchasing an additional 112,815 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $246,619,000 after purchasing an additional 48,645 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $213.59 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.10 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $217.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.73.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. The trade was 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 have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.