ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 3,156 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,740 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 3,156 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Garmin were worth $5,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $396,184,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 20.2% in 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 raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 164.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 247,726 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $3,726,645,000 after acquiring an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $139,421,000 after acquiring an additional 164,818 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $194.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. This represents a 9.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 15.38% of the company's stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE:GRMN traded down $2.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $200.89. The stock had a trading volume of 720,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 881,893. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $158.38 and a one year high of $246.50. The company has a market cap of $38.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.99. The business's 50 day moving average is $198.09 and its 200-day moving average is $208.60.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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). Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin's payout ratio is presently 47.37%.

Garmin Company 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.