Patrick Desbois Sells 6,911 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value 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 approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Garmin Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $228.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $215.06 and a 200 day moving average of $197.58. The company has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $136.25 and a 12-month high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in Garmin by 864.3% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.