Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,268 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 579 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,705,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This trade represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $209.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $216.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.51. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a PEG 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.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

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.