Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 99,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,533,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth about $13,448,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Garmin by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,794 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,956,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Garmin by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 9,935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 28,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,087,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Stock Up 1.5 %

GRMN opened at $226.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $213.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.76. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $133.16 and a 12-month high of $246.50.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $206.80.

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.