Trexquant Investment LP Purchases 76,423 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 163.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,091 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 76,423 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.06% of Garmin worth $25,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a "sell" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN traded down $32.79 during trading on Thursday, reaching $185.28. 2,809,979 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 859,120. The company has a market cap of $35.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $138.86 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.69.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. 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.