Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires 1,250 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 217.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,825 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Garmin were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 213.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,342,000 after buying an additional 28,301 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $2,365,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 42.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $13,191,000 after buying an additional 37,532 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $8,691,000. Finally, 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. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN opened at $161.45 on Monday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $171.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $159.47 and its 200 day moving average is $141.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

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.