Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 198,502 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 54.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 162,988 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 198,502 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.08% of Garmin worth $35,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Garmin by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,521 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Garmin by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 909 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Garmin by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,866 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Garmin Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE GRMN traded up $0.66 on Friday, hitting $214.05. 496,760 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 905,923. The company has a market cap of $41.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $201.58 and a 200-day moving average of $206.91. Garmin Ltd. has a 12 month low of $160.09 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 19.21%. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is 47.37%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 15.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $206.00.

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.