Insider Selling: Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) CFO Sells 2,763 Shares of Stock

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. The trade was a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Garmin Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $228.88 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $215.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.58. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $136.25 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued 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. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 41.04%.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at $39,748,000. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in Garmin by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 1,857 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its stake in Garmin by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 20,954 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,322,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Finally, JT Stratford LLC grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 9,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,949,000 after buying an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.