9,300 Shares in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in Garmin by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,207 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC now owns 4,793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 41.1% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 556 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 5,267 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $708,727.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,241.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $141.02 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.54. The company has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $140.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.85.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.52%.

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.