First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Decreases Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. decreased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,916 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GRMN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $161.15 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $171.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.98. The stock has a market cap of $30.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

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.