LPL Financial LLC Has $2.92 Million Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN – Get Rating) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,950 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Garmin by 1.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 51,245 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,115,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Prudential PLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 14.7% in the third quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 3,893 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council acquired a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth $104,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Garmin by 2.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 113,586 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in Garmin by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 18,659 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 3,691 shares during the period. 63.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Garmin in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Garmin in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $101.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Garmin from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.80.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN opened at $104.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $99.79 and its 200 day moving average is $97.54. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $76.37 and a fifty-two week high of $108.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.94.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. Garmin had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be given a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 16th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 58.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 867 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total value of $85,581.57. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $605,092.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,536 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.36, for a total value of $446,160.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,023 shares in the company, valued at $887,502.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 867 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total transaction of $85,581.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $605,092.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,610 shares of company stock valued at $1,635,921. Company insiders own 20.34% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Profile

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Garmin Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of navigation, communications and information devices, most of which are enabled by Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. It operates through the following segments: Marine, Outdoor, Fitness, Auto OEM, Consumer Auto, and Aviation.