Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 6,321 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC trimmed its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 23.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,395 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,321 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Garmin by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 54,922 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,672,000 after purchasing an additional 5,890 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 5.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 19,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,444,000 after buying an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Garmin by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 36,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,406,000 after buying an additional 5,989 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Garmin by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 15,584 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,743,000 after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $668,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $180.48 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $215.36 and its 200 day moving average is $204.13. The stock has a market capitalization 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Barclays boosted their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.