GeoWealth Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

GeoWealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 65.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,853 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,472 shares during the period. GeoWealth Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 1.3% during the 4th 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 holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $187.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization 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 Ltd. has a 12-month low of $139.65 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $208.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $205.12.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $202.80.

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.