Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Holdings Reduced by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN cut its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,108,512 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 53,722 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.58% of Garmin worth $228,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in Garmin during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,137,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $734,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares in the last quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 148,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,724,000 after purchasing an additional 4,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $178.18 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $34.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average is $216.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $203.83.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. 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 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. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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