Fmr LLC Sells 86,936 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Fmr LLC trimmed its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,688,218 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 86,936 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $760,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its holdings in Garmin by 864.3% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 3,141 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp bought a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,699 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 259,340 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $53,491,000 after purchasing an additional 81,157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $180.48 on Tuesday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $34.73 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $215.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.13.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 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.