National Bank of Canada FI Has $17.83 Million Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 454.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,433 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,849 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Garmin were worth $17,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Garmin by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Garmin Trading Down 15.0 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $185.28 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $138.86 and a 1 year high of $246.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.57. The company has a market cap of $35.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Garmin 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.