Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Sold by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 12.6%, owning 11,092 shares valued at $2.4 million after selling 1,601 shares.
• Institutional investors hold 81.60% of Garmin's stock, with notable increases in holdings from GAMMA Investing LLC (25,047.9% increase) and Congress Asset Management Co. (673.4% increase) during the first quarter.
• Garmin's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting an EPS of $2.17 and 20.4% revenue growth year-over-year, alongside the announcement of a $0.90 quarterly dividend.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lessened its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,092 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 1,601 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Garmin were worth $2,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 25,047.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 885,456 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $192,259,000 after acquiring an additional 881,935 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 673.4% during the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 441,318 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $95,823,000 after acquiring an additional 384,258 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Garmin by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,394,000 after acquiring an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Garmin by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,145 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $82,121,000 after purchasing an additional 247,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,748,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GRMN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $222.00.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $218.79 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $160.71 and a 1-year high of $246.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $212.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.99.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Garmin's payout ratio is currently 47.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $399,685.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 29,146 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,266,390. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 of the company's stock, valued at $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 15.38% of the company's stock.

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.

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