Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Acquires 907 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,707 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Garmin during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $218.24 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $41.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $217.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.69.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect 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 issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This trade represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GRMN. Tigress Financial increased 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 target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

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.