Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Sells 406 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC trimmed its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,827 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 406 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,160 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 worth $220,541,000 after purchasing an additional 45,242 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $253,000. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $180.31 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.57. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $184.42. The firm has a market cap of $34.66 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.83.

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.