Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,236 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 193,748 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,236 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $31,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.9% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 63,278 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Garmin by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $220,541,000 after purchasing an additional 45,242 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Garmin by 4.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,799,000 after purchasing an additional 58,343 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 4.4% during 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 buying an additional 54,001 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after buying an additional 190,739 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE GRMN opened at $183.29 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $169.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.69. The stock has a market cap of $35.21 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $99.61 and a 12 month high of $183.88.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,618 shares of company stock valued at $2,851,673. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GRMN. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

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.