Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Position Boosted by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 417.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,210 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,010 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $798,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 169.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Up 0.2 %

GRMN stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $143.03. The company had a trading volume of 528,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,937. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $141.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.21. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $94.89 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54. The company has a market cap of $27.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GRMN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 758,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.89% 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.