Ostrum Asset Management Trims Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Ostrum Asset Management decreased its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 39.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 334 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the period. Ostrum Asset Management’s holdings in Garmin were worth $69,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth about $3,137,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth $501,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at $185,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $22,755,000 after buying an additional 35,703 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,155,000 after buying an additional 5,965 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % 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 worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on GRMN. Barclays increased 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. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given 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 $202.80.

Garmin Trading Down 1.9 %

GRMN opened at $187.02 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $139.65 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $208.55 and a 200 day moving average of $205.12. The firm has a market cap of $35.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.