JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 70,938 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in Garmin Ltd. by 3.3%, selling 70,938 shares, and now owns 2,110,519 shares valued at approximately $458.3 million.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Vanguard Group Inc., significantly increased their holdings in Garmin, showcasing strong interest in the company's stock.
• Analysts have updated their price targets for Garmin, with JPMorgan raising its target to $250, while a consensus rating remains at "Hold" with an average target price of $222.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,110,519 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 70,938 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.10% of Garmin worth $458,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GRMN. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 25,047.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 885,456 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $192,259,000 after purchasing an additional 881,935 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 384,258 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,425,166 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $4,000,656,000 after purchasing an additional 357,458 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 286,765 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 164.7% during the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $229.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $215.82 and a 200-day moving average of $209.50. The company has a market cap of $44.09 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $160.94 and a one year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Garmin's payout ratio is 44.39%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the business's 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 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 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, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $399,685.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 29,146 shares in the company, valued at $6,266,390. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is 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.

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