Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) COO Sells $1,569,833.65 in Stock

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN traded down $2.94 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $223.98. 884,639 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 843,242. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $134.11 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $43.09 billion, a PE ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $214.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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 note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,448,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,794 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,956,000 after buying an additional 2,349 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 9,935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after buying an additional 2,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 96.3% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,021 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 11,295 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.