Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Cuts Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund decreased its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,800 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 14,600 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Garmin by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $939,642,000 after purchasing an additional 63,278 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $220,541,000 after acquiring an additional 45,242 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Garmin by 7.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,630,148 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $171,492,000 after acquiring an additional 108,427 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 10.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,411,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $148,459,000 after acquiring an additional 136,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Garmin by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after purchasing an additional 54,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barrington Research increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $160.79 on Wednesday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $99.61 and a 1-year high of $171.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $158.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.