Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,017 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 888 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,930,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,168 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in Garmin by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,189 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 466 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 1.1 %

GRMN stock opened at $161.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $161.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.49. The company has a market cap of $30.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $99.61 and a 12-month high of $171.64.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The company’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Bank of America cut Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.83.

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.