Planned Solutions Inc. Takes Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $13,191,000 after buying an additional 37,532 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Garmin by 62.7% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 57,449 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,044,000 after acquiring an additional 22,130 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Garmin by 118.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 232,315 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $24,440,000 after acquiring an additional 125,812 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems purchased a new stake in Garmin during the third quarter valued at $1,267,000. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth about $2,210,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock opened at $147.98 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.70.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Garmin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Barrington Research raised their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 758,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 19.89% 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.