Convergence Investment Partners LLC Makes New $1.37 Million Investment in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,366,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Garmin by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in Garmin by 5.3% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,207 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 466 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Balentine LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 2.0% in the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at $91,173,339.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 5,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $708,727.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,241.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 over the last quarter. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barrington Research increased their target price on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.33.

Garmin Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Garmin stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $143.45. 625,349 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 770,905. The firm has a market cap of $27.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $95.40 and a 52-week high of $149.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.71.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 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 issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

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.