Parallel Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,078 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,252,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 270,186 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Garmin by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,795,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $208.90 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $201.28. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $40.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced 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. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Garmin 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.