Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Trims Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 531 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $5,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Garmin by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,252,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Garmin by 1,580.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 287,283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,570,000 after purchasing an additional 270,186 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 123.8% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 486,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,600,000 after acquiring an additional 268,996 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 560.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 203,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,860,000 after acquiring an additional 172,883 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays upped 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,274 shares of company stock worth $5,242,686 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 2.2 %

Garmin stock opened at $228.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $215.06 and its 200 day moving average is $197.58. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $136.25 and a twelve month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

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.