MQS Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,216 Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,216 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Garmin by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $939,642,000 after acquiring an additional 63,278 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Garmin by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $220,541,000 after buying an additional 45,242 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Garmin by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after buying an additional 54,001 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Garmin by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $119,838,000 after purchasing an additional 6,858 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $2.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $176.10. The company had a trading volume of 60,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 840,375. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $176.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. Garmin’s revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GRMN. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

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.