Strs Ohio Has $1.99 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Strs Ohio reduced its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,509 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,328 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 9.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 20,329 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,475,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $174,989,000 after acquiring an additional 11,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 378.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,785 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,414,000 after acquiring an additional 29,893 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the topic of several research reports. Barrington Research upped their target price on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 in the last three months. Company insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $139.52 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $94.89 and a 1-year high of $149.54.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.71%.

Garmin 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.