Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 103 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Fred Alger Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $396,184,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,394,000 after acquiring an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $82,121,000 after acquiring an additional 247,726 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after purchasing an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 0.6 %

GRMN opened at $191.55 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $158.38 and a twelve month high of $246.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.20.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.80.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total value of $1,635,862.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 15.38% of the company’s stock.

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.