Swiss National Bank Sells 1,100 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in Garmin Ltd. by 0.3%, now owning 433,300 shares valued at approximately $94 million.
• CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares for about $1.6 million, decreasing his ownership by 5.28%, while CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares valued at around $400,000.
• Garmin recently reported $2.17 earnings per share, exceeding expectations, with revenue for the quarter growing 20.4% year-over-year.

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 433,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.23% of Garmin worth $94,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 12.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 282,751 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $61,394,000 after purchasing an additional 31,432 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 357.0% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 5,064 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 3,956 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 0.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 892,606 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $193,812,000 after acquiring an additional 2,768 shares in the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in Garmin in the first quarter valued at approximately $718,000. Finally, AXS Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,925,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 141,626 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the business's 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 $6,266,390. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 15.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GRMN shares. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and issued a $167.00 target price (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $232.55 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $160.94 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $215.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.17 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $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 forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Garmin's payout ratio is 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.

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