AXQ Capital LP Buys New Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,898 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,010,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 578.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Garmin Trading Up 0.5 %

GRMN stock opened at $209.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $216.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.51. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released 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 net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders 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 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 41.04%.

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.