Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Argent Capital Management LLC

Argent Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 184,839 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,994 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Garmin worth $30,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $939,642,000 after acquiring an additional 63,278 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Garmin by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $220,541,000 after purchasing an additional 45,242 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in Garmin by 4.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,799,000 after purchasing an additional 58,343 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Garmin by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after purchasing an additional 54,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $119,838,000 after buying an additional 6,858 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,531 shares of company stock valued at $2,835,858 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $179.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 529,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 845,486. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $99.61 and a 1 year high of $180.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.41.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

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.