Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Sit Investment Associates Inc.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 21.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,894 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 5,560 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth about $3,137,000. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $734,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares in the last quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 148,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,724,000 after purchasing an additional 4,616 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 47.2% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Down 3.9 %

GRMN opened at $178.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $138.86 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $216.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.83.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.25%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GRMN. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased 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. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

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.