Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stake Lowered by Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.

Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 32,359 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 860 shares during the period. Garmin accounts for approximately 5.0% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $6,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $396,184,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after purchasing an additional 215,344 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Garmin by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,421,000 after buying an additional 164,818 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Garmin by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $74,561,000 after purchasing an additional 159,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth $32,795,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total transaction of $1,044,762.47. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at $2,579,799.50. This trade represents a 28.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last quarter. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN stock opened at $193.10 on Thursday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $212.72 and its 200 day moving average is $203.97. The firm has a market cap of $37.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.25%.

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.