Patton Fund Management Inc. Sells 6,783 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Patton Fund Management Inc. decreased its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 22.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,961 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 6,783 shares during the quarter. Garmin makes up approximately 1.2% of Patton Fund Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Patton Fund Management Inc.'s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter worth about $127,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $6,167,000 after buying an additional 1,659 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,781 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,521 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,758,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 73,265 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $15,112,000 after buying an additional 5,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $206.00.

Garmin Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE GRMN opened at $203.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $39.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $158.38 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $198.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.82.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Garmin's payout ratio is 47.37%.

Garmin Profile

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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