1900 Wealth Management LLC Decreases Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

1900 Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,562 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 662 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 169.5% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barrington Research lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Garmin Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Garmin stock traded up $1.50 on Monday, hitting $141.02. The stock had a trading volume of 933,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 950,471. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $94.89 and a 52-week high of $149.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $140.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.59. The stock has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.52%.

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.