Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Position Lowered by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 94 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $226.39 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $134.01 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The company has a market capitalization of $43.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 previous year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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