Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Buys 329 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,619 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $215.78 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $216.76 and a 200 day moving average of $200.26. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Garmin

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.