Prudential PLC Sells 7,108 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Prudential PLC lowered its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 35.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,815 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,108 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $2,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 12.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 54,922 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $9,672,000 after buying an additional 5,890 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 5.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 19,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.8% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 69,565 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Garmin by 34.1% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 26,461 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,658,000 after purchasing an additional 6,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Garmin by 19.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 36,387 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,406,000 after purchasing an additional 5,989 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. 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, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $178.18 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $216.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.07. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $138.86 and a one year high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $34.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total transaction of $1,044,762.47. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at $2,579,799.50. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.