Norges Bank Invests $396.18 Million in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,920,797 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $396,184,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.00% of Garmin as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp grew its position in Garmin by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $788,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GRMN. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a "sell" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock traded down $36.10 on Thursday, hitting $181.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 898,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 852,066. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $217.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.69.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin's 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.