Eastern Bank Grows Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Eastern Bank lifted its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 100.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Garmin were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Garmin by 864.3% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1,633.3% during the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 156 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Garmin during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $1,605,471.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total value of $399,685.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,266,390. This trade represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 15.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.75.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $221.36 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $160.71 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.90.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.27. Garmin had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 19.21%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.37%.

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.