Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC Sells 121 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,050 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 121 shares during the quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,276,118 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,049,121,000 after purchasing an additional 365,713 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Garmin by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,034,948 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,517,327,000 after acquiring an additional 239,988 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Garmin by 2.5% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,246,834 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $762,367,000 after acquiring an additional 176,510 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 5.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,798,228 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $545,971,000 after acquiring an additional 355,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,433,511 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $345,772,000 after purchasing an additional 70,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $139.52. 2,891,481 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 950,269. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $94.89 and a one year high of $149.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.02. The company has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 43.52%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 623,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 623,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. 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. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.33.

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.