Advisory Services Network LLC Sells 677 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Advisory Services Network LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,076 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 677 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,137,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $734,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares during the period. Baskin Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 148,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,724,000 after acquiring an additional 4,616 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN stock opened at $192.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $210.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.41. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $138.86 and a 52-week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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%. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 49.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.