Enhancing Capital LLC Acquires New Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Enhancing Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,824 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,408,000. Garmin comprises approximately 1.1% of Enhancing Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 123.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after purchasing an additional 156,441 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth approximately $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 24.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $734,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock opened at $212.43 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $138.86 and a 52-week high of $246.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $217.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 41.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

About Garmin

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.