Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,673 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,119 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $3,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $218.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.32. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $138.86 and a 12-month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.80.

About Garmin

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.