Principal Securities Inc. Buys 333 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,781 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,216,819,000 after buying an additional 134,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $765,912,000 after buying an additional 112,815 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in Garmin by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $246,619,000 after purchasing an additional 48,645 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Garmin by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 767,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $135,143,000 after purchasing an additional 30,011 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $224.67 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $131.20 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.51. The company has a market capitalization of $43.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Three 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $206.80.

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.