Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 200 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 30,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,861,000 after purchasing an additional 6,939 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Garmin in the 1st quarter valued at $1,389,000. LBP AM SA lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 81.4% during the 1st quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 7,284 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 3,268 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 173,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $25,861,000 after acquiring an additional 5,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 51.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,395 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,227,000 after acquiring an additional 9,681 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Up 1.2 %

Garmin stock opened at $179.76 on Monday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $99.61 and a 12-month high of $180.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.88.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,531 shares of company stock worth $2,835,858 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Company 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.