Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Position Trimmed by Gulf International Bank UK Ltd

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd cut its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,979 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 578.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Garmin during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 raised 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. Barclays lifted their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock worth $5,242,686. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $228.88 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $136.25 and a 52-week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released 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. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

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.