MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $55,000 Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 430 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,153 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 25,936 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,334,000 after buying an additional 2,194 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 30.0% in 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 buying an additional 6,939 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 129,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $16,607,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 28,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,706,000 after purchasing an additional 7,823 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $1.91 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $167.88. 827,800 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 961,401. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $167.90.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barrington Research increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.50.

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.