Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Purchased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 10.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,763 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Garmin by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $939,642,000 after buying an additional 63,278 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Garmin by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,799,000 after buying an additional 58,343 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Garmin by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after acquiring an additional 54,001 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Garmin by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after acquiring an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 20.2% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 839,537 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $124,982,000 after purchasing an additional 141,001 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Bank of America cut shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays cut shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $181.00 to $133.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.33.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $172.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $99.61 and a 1-year high of $184.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $173.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.14.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 over the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.