Insider Selling: Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) VP Sells $15,814.86 in Stock

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) VP Laurie A. Minard sold 87 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.78, for a total transaction of $15,814.86. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,018.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $183.29 on Monday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $183.88. The stock has a market cap of $35.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $169.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.93.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced 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 Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased 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 worth $939,642,000 after buying an additional 63,278 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in Garmin by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,006,563 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $326,909,000 after acquiring an additional 11,666 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Garmin by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,735,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $282,761,000 after acquiring an additional 13,968 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $210,799,000 after acquiring an additional 58,343 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 54,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

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.