Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,758 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 419 shares during the quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $396,184,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 20.2% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 286,765 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Garmin by 164.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 247,726 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 1.2% during 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 buying an additional 215,344 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in Garmin by 32.2% in 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 buying an additional 164,818 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

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

Garmin Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $202.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $158.38 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.23.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 47.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.80.

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.