Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 2,448 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 742,469 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,448 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.39% of Garmin worth $153,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 123.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after buying an additional 156,441 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new position in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,086,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $734,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after purchasing an additional 128,672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.80.

Garmin Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE GRMN opened at $212.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $217.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.06. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.04%.

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.