Clifton A. Pemble Sells 7,202 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Garmin Trading Up 2.2 %

GRMN stock opened at $228.88 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $136.25 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day moving average is $215.06 and its 200 day moving average is $197.58.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. Garmin’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 41.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,448,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Garmin by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,794 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,956,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Garmin by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 9,935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,021 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,052,000 after purchasing an additional 11,295 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.80.

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.