Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 142,053 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 19,148 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.07% of Garmin worth $29,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Garmin by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a "sell" rating and increased their target price for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $210.80.

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Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock traded up $4.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $193.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 147,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,028,937. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $211.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.37. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50. The stock has a market cap of $37.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

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

Garmin 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.