Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Increases Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 109.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,372 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 2,288 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Garmin by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $939,642,000 after buying an additional 63,278 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Garmin by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $220,541,000 after buying an additional 45,242 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Garmin by 7.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,630,148 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $171,492,000 after buying an additional 108,427 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Garmin by 10.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,411,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $148,459,000 after buying an additional 136,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in Garmin by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $166,021,000 after buying an additional 54,001 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of GRMN stock traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $144.46. 1,185,327 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 936,313. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $143.40 and its 200-day moving average is $128.37. The company has a market cap of $27.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $95.79 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 758,834 shares in the company, valued at $106,236,760. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 over the last ninety days. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

Garmin Company 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.