Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Position Lowered by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC trimmed its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,688,218 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 86,936 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned 1.92% of Garmin worth $760,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its stake in Garmin by 864.3% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value 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 $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays increased 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $180.48 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $215.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.13. 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 $34.73 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business 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 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.