Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,567 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Garmin were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $12,731,000. Meitav Investment House Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $653,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 118,591 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $24,461,000 after purchasing an additional 26,555 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Garmin by 628.5% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 33,928 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,998,000 after acquiring an additional 29,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its position in Garmin by 622.9% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 11,191 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 9,643 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $224.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $131.20 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.51.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.80.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate 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.