JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,110,519 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 70,938 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $458,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,425,166 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,000,656,000 after buying an additional 357,458 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 999,096 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $206,074,000 after buying an additional 135,135 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 892,606 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $193,812,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 25,047.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 885,456 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $192,259,000 after purchasing an additional 881,935 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 1.4%

GRMN stock opened at $229.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $215.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.50. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $160.94 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 23.21% and a return on equity of 20.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 44.39%.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $1,605,471.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $399,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 29,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,266,390. This trade represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $167.00 target price (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $222.00.

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.