Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 99,876 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,178 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Garmin worth $16,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth about $968,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $437,000. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 189.3% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 6,591 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 4,313 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,231 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $690,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 510 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,242 shares of company stock valued at $2,676,004. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut 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 increased their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.83.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock traded down $0.61 on Friday, hitting $180.17. 627,748 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 839,482. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $99.61 and a 1-year high of $183.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $171.90 and its 200 day moving average is $159.47. The company has a market capitalization of $34.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

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.