National Pension Service Cuts Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

National Pension Service lowered its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 275,057 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 9,008 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Garmin were worth $56,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 123.2% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after buying an additional 156,441 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $734,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock opened at $223.98 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.16. The company has a market capitalization of $43.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $134.11 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. Three 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,874 shares of company stock worth $3,571,966 in the last three months. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.