IndexIQ Advisors LLC Sells 21,394 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

IndexIQ Advisors LLC cut its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN – Get Rating) by 85.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,576 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 21,394 shares during the period. IndexIQ Advisors LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,813 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 33.3% in the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Garmin by 1.1% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,600 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Garmin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,453 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LA Financiere DE L Echiquier boosted its position in Garmin by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. LA Financiere DE L Echiquier now owns 13,735 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. 72.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 16,089 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.81, for a total value of $1,573,665.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,500 shares in the company, valued at $14,231,355. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 21.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $97.60 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.97. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $92.31 and a fifty-two week high of $178.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 27th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.02. Garmin had a net margin of 20.31% and a return on equity of 17.71%. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 4.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial reduced their target price on shares of Garmin from $208.00 to $165.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Tuesday. TheStreet lowered shares of Garmin from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Garmin from $127.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Garmin from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.75.

Garmin Company Profile

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Garmin Ltd. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of wireless devices in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Australian Continent, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its Fitness segment offers running and multi-sport watches; cycling products; activity tracking and smartwatch devices; and fitness and cycling accessories.