Meitav Investment House Ltd. Takes $653,000 Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,252,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 1,580.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 287,283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,570,000 after acquiring an additional 270,186 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Garmin by 123.8% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 486,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $85,600,000 after purchasing an additional 268,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Garmin by 560.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 203,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,860,000 after purchasing an additional 172,883 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $228.61 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $212.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.84. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $128.89 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 38.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.67.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 19.54% 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.