Cypress Capital Group Trims Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Cypress Capital Group trimmed its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,637 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 255 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Garmin were worth $338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in Garmin by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,185 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $224.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $43.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $215.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.87. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $138.86 and a one year 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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 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 dividend yield of 1.60%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial boosted 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, February 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,274 shares of company stock worth $5,242,686. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.