Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Invests $413,000 in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,213 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,276,118 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,049,121,000 after purchasing an additional 365,713 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin by 1.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,034,948 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,517,327,000 after acquiring an additional 239,988 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Garmin by 2.5% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,246,834 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $762,367,000 after acquiring an additional 176,510 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Garmin by 5.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,798,228 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $545,971,000 after acquiring an additional 355,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 2.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,433,511 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $345,772,000 after acquiring an additional 70,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barrington Research increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.33.

Garmin Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $141.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.92. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $94.89 and a 12-month high of $149.54.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.52%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $2,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 758,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,236,760. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 in the last three months. Insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

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.