Commerce Bank Sells 4,612 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Commerce Bank cut its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 152,155 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 4,612 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank owned about 0.08% of Garmin worth $31,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp lifted its stake in Garmin by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $788,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,008,550.80. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $202.80.

Garmin Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $190.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $209.00 and a 200 day moving average of $204.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 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.