M&G Plc Sells 26,870 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

M&G Plc decreased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 233,045 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 26,870 shares during the period. M&G Plc owned about 0.12% of Garmin worth $37,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,460,000. SW Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,279,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,848,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 20.2% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 839,537 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $124,982,000 after buying an additional 141,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.7 %

GRMN stock traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $169.72. 538,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 855,726. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $99.61 and a 12 month high of $179.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.54.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share 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 given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America lowered Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.83.

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.