Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Trims Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,742 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,051 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $10,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,860 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $1,391,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 169.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Xcel Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:GRMN traded up $1.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $142.71. The company had a trading volume of 198,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 940,619. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.85. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 43.52%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GRMN. Barrington Research increased their target price on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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 report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

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.