Franklin Resources Inc. Has $29.37 Million Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 142,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,910 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.07% of Garmin worth $29,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $396,184,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,726,645,000 after acquiring an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $139,421,000 after buying an additional 164,818 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Garmin by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $74,561,000 after purchasing an additional 159,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,795,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Garmin Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded down $6.91 during trading on Thursday, hitting $185.80. The company had a trading volume of 167,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 879,860. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company 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 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 payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was 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 owns 30,936 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,008,550.80. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.