Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Wintrust Investments LLC

Wintrust Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 16.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 579 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 114 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,005 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,673 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at $229,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 560.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 203,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,860,000 after purchasing an additional 172,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 9,554 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total value of $1,044,762.47. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,579,799.50. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $208.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $216.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.32. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $40.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Garmin 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.