Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,567 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Garmin were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 111.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 172.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 48,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $8,511,000 after buying an additional 30,598 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.6% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,783 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter valued at $13,448,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GRMN. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $206.80.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $224.67 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $131.20 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $213.43 and its 200 day moving average is $195.51. The company has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.73, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Garmin Company 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.