S.A. Mason LLC Trims Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

S.A. Mason LLC lowered its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,200 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $144,641,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in Garmin by 108.1% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,868,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $188,573,000 after buying an additional 970,527 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 195.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 987,042 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $117,073,000 after buying an additional 652,700 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,562,275 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,622,990,000 after buying an additional 527,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,276,118 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,049,121,000 after acquiring an additional 365,713 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock opened at $147.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $94.89 and a 1-year high of $149.42. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.09 and its 200 day moving average is $121.70.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Barrington Research increased their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Garmin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.89% 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.