Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Blueshift Asset Management LLC sold 3,093 shares of Garmin Ltd., reducing its holdings by 40.1% to a total of 4,619 shares valued at approximately $1 million.
• Garmin recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, reflecting a 1.6% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 47.37%.
• Garmin's stock has recently been downgraded by multiple brokerages, with analysts providing varied price targets ranging from $167.00 to $250.00 and a consensus rating of "Hold."

Blueshift Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 40.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,619 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 3,093 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $1,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Garmin during the first quarter worth about $2,042,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Garmin in the first quarter worth about $3,700,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 35.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,551 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,508,000 after buying an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the first quarter worth approximately $1,693,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 31.8% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 265 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total value of $399,685.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at $6,266,390. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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. 15.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up previously from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

Garmin Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $218.79. 1,324,517 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 840,080. The company has a market cap of $42.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $212.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $208.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $160.71 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.39%.

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.