Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Has $2.73 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 305.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 9,970 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Garmin were worth $2,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,137,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at $501,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $185,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $22,755,000 after purchasing an additional 35,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $35,155,000 after purchasing an additional 5,965 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a "sell" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $202.80.

Garmin Stock Down 0.1 %

GRMN traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $198.82. 561,198 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 874,796. The stock's 50-day moving average is $207.23 and its 200 day moving average is $205.43. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $142.85 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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 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 1.81%. Garmin's payout ratio is presently 49.25%.

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.