Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Acquires 1,039 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 37.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,779 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Garmin were worth $779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock valued at $5,242,686. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $228.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $197.58. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $136.25 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

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, topping 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 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 last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average 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.