Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $2.72 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,185 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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. acquired a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,874 shares of company stock valued at $3,571,966 in the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Garmin Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $223.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $214.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.16. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $134.11 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.04%.

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.