Legal & General Group Plc Sells 242,547 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,128,980 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 242,547 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.59% of Garmin worth $232,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $396,184,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Garmin by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Garmin by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $139,421,000 after buying an additional 164,818 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 79.3% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $74,561,000 after buying an additional 159,860 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $32,795,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN traded up $3.84 on Monday, reaching $193.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 176,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 882,947. The firm has a market cap of $37.25 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50-day moving average price is $211.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.37. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a "sell" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.