Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Invests $223,000 in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,080 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Garmin by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth about $53,252,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin by 1,580.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 287,283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,570,000 after buying an additional 270,186 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,795,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 0.1 %

GRMN stock opened at $208.50 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $40.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $216.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.33.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

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.