Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $6.74 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,664 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 811 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Garmin were worth $6,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GRMN. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Garmin by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $74,561,000 after buying an additional 159,860 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Garmin by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 72,582 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,971,000 after buying an additional 3,017 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Garmin by 392.1% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,381 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares during the last quarter. Enhancing Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $1,408,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 22,397 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after buying an additional 1,292 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $209.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $216.96 and a 200-day moving average of $201.66. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $138.86 and a one year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. Analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 41.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.