Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 13.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,637 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in Garmin by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 30,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,861,000 after acquiring an additional 6,939 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Garmin during the first quarter valued at about $1,389,000. LBP AM SA boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 81.4% in the first quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 7,284 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 3,268 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 3.5% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 173,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,861,000 after buying an additional 5,945 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 51.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,395 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,227,000 after buying an additional 9,681 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,531 shares of company stock worth $2,835,858 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $180.67 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $183.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.02. The stock has a market cap of $34.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Garmin Company 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.