Forsta AP Fonden Sells 600 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Forsta AP Fonden reduced its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,400 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,160 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $2,071,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,124 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,715,000 after acquiring an additional 2,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in Garmin by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 5,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays cut Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lowered Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.33.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $172.68 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $173.80 and a 200 day moving average of $161.32. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $184.42. The firm has a market cap of $33.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.