Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 251,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,445 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.13% of Garmin worth $52,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at $7,008,550.80. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 1.6 %

GRMN opened at $213.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $217.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $202.73. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

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.