Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,961 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,101 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $11,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 35.2% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.4 %

GRMN traded up $0.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $165.97. 973,141 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 983,928. The company has a market cap of $31.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $145.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.44. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $99.56 and a 1 year high of $166.43.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GRMN. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 653,834 shares in the company, valued at $97,349,344.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 5,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $708,727.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,360 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,241.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $2,233,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,349,344.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. 19.89% of the stock is currently 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.