Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Sells 24,960 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank cut its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 24.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 77,465 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 24,960 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's holdings in Garmin were worth $16,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $913,544,000 after buying an additional 75,332 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Garmin by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,708,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $352,475,000 after buying an additional 149,210 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in 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 valued at $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 999,096 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $206,074,000 after buying an additional 135,135 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $192,259,000 after buying an additional 881,935 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total value of $399,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 141,626 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 15.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $167.00 target price (up from $152.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $222.00.

Garmin Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Garmin stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $218.79. 1,324,517 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 957,918. The stock's fifty day moving average is $212.28 and its 200 day moving average is $208.97. The firm has a market cap of $42.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $160.71 and a 1 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors 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 currently 47.37%.

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.