IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Sells 712 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd decreased its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 34.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,381 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 712 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Garmin were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 578.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 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 $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Garmin Trading Down 1.6 %

Garmin stock opened at $213.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $217.31 and a 200-day moving average of $202.73.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released 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. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 49.25%.

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.