APG Asset Management N.V. Purchases 82,100 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 75.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,400 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 82,100 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. owned approximately 0.10% of Garmin worth $38,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $396,184,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after acquiring an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Garmin by 79.3% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $74,561,000 after purchasing an additional 159,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,795,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted 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. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Trading Down 4.2 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $173.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $213.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.93. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The company has a market capitalization of $33.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

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. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.