2,066 Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Acquired by Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,066 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $13,191,000 after buying an additional 37,532 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 62.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,449 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $6,044,000 after buying an additional 22,130 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 118.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 232,315 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $24,440,000 after buying an additional 125,812 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $1,267,000. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $2,210,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $147.98 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $133.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.70. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $94.89 and a 52 week high of $149.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Garmin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barrington Research upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.50.

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.