HM Payson & Co. Boosts Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 28,883.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,217 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 5,199 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 578.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $219.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.50. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research 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, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock valued at $5,242,686 in the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.