Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,268 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 579 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. FMR LLC raised its position in Garmin by 40.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,252,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 1,580.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position 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 valued at $139,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,795,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total value of $625,957.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This trade represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 in the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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, Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $209.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $216.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $201.51. The company has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $138.86 and a 52-week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released 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. The firm 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 last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

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.