Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Holdings Decreased by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 167,089 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,207 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $34,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 11.7% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,176,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 54,922 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,672,000 after acquiring an additional 5,890 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Garmin by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 19,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in Garmin by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 5,069 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 69,565 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $178.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $216.05 and its 200-day moving average is $203.83. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GRMN. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.