IFP Advisors Inc Grows Stake in Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 93.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,382 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,087 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,197,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,973,044,000 after buying an additional 499,235 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,250,844 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,785,304,000 after acquiring an additional 126,677 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter valued at approximately $410,304,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 1.1% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,494,519 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $367,964,000 after acquiring an additional 16,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.4% in the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,419,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $296,250,000 after acquiring an additional 5,213 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of GRMN opened at $232.51 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $223.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $221.80. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $169.26 and a 12-month high of $261.69. The firm has a market cap of $44.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.41 earnings per share. Garmin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.350-9.350 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 12th will be issued a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 12th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GRMN. Longbow Research upgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays set a $240.00 target price on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,694 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.65, for a total value of $1,684,545.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 58,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,731,591. The trade was a 10.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Matthew Munn sold 5,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.97, for a total value of $1,323,866.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,876 shares in the company, valued at $2,478,579.72. This represents a 34.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 44,403 shares of company stock valued at $10,987,074 over the last quarter. 15.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company best known for designing and manufacturing navigation, communication and information devices that leverage global positioning system (GPS) technology. The company serves a diverse set of markets including consumer fitness and wearables, automotive navigation, aviation avionics, marine electronics and outdoor handheld devices. Garmin’s products combine hardware, mapping and software services to deliver location-aware solutions for personal, recreational and professional uses.

Garmin’s product lineup includes wearable fitness and multisport watches (Forerunner, Fenix, Venu), cycling computers and accessories (Edge, Varia), handheld and handheld-mounted GPS devices for outdoor activities, automotive and portable navigation units, marine chartplotters and fishfinders, and certified avionics for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.