Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 48,514 Shares of Garmin Ltd. $GRMN

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 271.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,359 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,514 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $13,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $410,304,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 649.2% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,256,668 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $309,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,938 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 138.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,158,702 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $247,255,000 after purchasing an additional 671,859 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 2.5% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 499,235 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 530.5% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 351,690 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,593,000 after purchasing an additional 295,914 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 19,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.58, for a total transaction of $5,009,964.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 124,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,214,788.50. This trade represents a 13.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,694 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.65, for a total value of $1,684,545.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 58,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,731,591. The trade was a 10.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 44,403 shares of company stock worth $10,987,074 over the last ninety days. 15.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Longbow Research raised shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.00.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $236.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $225.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.98. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $169.26 and a twelve month high of $261.69.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.41 EPS. Garmin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.350-9.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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

Garmin Profile

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.