Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,414 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,117 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $6,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 578.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Garmin during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GRMN. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $208.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $216.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.33. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

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.