Swiss National Bank Sells 21,600 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 434,400 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 21,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.23% of Garmin worth $89,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp grew its position in Garmin by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Garmin by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in Garmin by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Garmin by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total value of $1,044,762.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,579,799.50. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364 over the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Garmin Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $214.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $216.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $200.56. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued 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 $210.80.

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.