JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 505,911 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,181,457 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 505,911 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.14% of Garmin worth $449,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and increased their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

Garmin Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $213.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $217.31 and its 200 day moving average is $202.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.25%.

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.