Meeder Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 32.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,571 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 80,493 shares during the period. Garmin accounts for approximately 1.6% of Meeder Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Meeder Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Garmin worth $21,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Narwhal Capital Management increased its position in shares of Garmin by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 21,054 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,706,000 after purchasing an additional 13,391 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $283,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 153.8% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 291,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $37,737,000 after buying an additional 176,908 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $524,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barrington Research lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Garmin from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $135.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Garmin from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $139.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at $91,173,339.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company's stock.

Garmin Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE GRMN traded up $2.63 on Friday, hitting $147.53. 603,116 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 973,372. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $94.89 and a twelve month high of $149.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.11 and a 200 day moving average of $123.70. The company has a market capitalization of $28.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. Garmin's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Garmin's payout ratio is 43.52%.

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.