First Pacific Financial Trims Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

First Pacific Financial trimmed its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,664 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Garmin were worth $985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GRMN. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 3.7% during the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,909 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. BRYN MAWR TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Garmin by 4.3% in the first quarter. BRYN MAWR TRUST Co now owns 2,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,207 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 4.4% in the second quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 2,688 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 3.4% in the first quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,645 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $147.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $28.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $94.89 and a twelve month high of $149.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.70.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $2,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 758,834 shares in the company, valued at $106,236,760. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GRMN. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Garmin from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.50.

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.