Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 3,670 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 8.6%, now holding 39,157 shares valued at approximately $8.50 million.
• CEO Clifton A. Pemble and CFO Douglas G. Boessen both sold shares in June and July, resulting in a decrease of 5.28% and 6.00% of their positions, respectively.
• Garmin announced a quarterly dividend of $0.90, leading to an annualized yield of 1.5%, with a payout ratio of 44.39%.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,157 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 3,670 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Garmin were worth $8,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Garmin by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,281 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in Garmin by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $975,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $26,142,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $32,795,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total value of $399,685.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 29,146 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,266,390. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $1,605,471.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.8%

Garmin stock traded up $4.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $233.09. The stock had a trading volume of 587,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 904,124. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.87 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $160.94 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.00% and a net margin of 23.21%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Garmin's payout ratio is 44.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

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.