Korea Investment CORP Acquires 5,200 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,265 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Garmin were worth $15,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $213.59 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.03. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $138.86 and a 52-week 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.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 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.