Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Bought by Ossiam

Ossiam lifted its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 190.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,474 shares during the period. Ossiam’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth about $3,137,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth about $501,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Garmin during the third quarter worth approximately $185,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 35.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $22,755,000 after purchasing an additional 35,703 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,155,000 after buying an additional 5,965 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $202.80.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $190.53 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $139.65 and a one year high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $36.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $209.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.75.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

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.