Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Decreases Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank reduced its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Free Report) by 52.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 33,277 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's holdings in Garmin were worth $3,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in Garmin by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,207 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Balentine LLC raised its position in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Syntax Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 3.2% in the third quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC now owns 4,793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 41.1% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 556 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barrington Research upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $142.33.

Garmin Price Performance

Garmin stock traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $142.51. 779,564 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 948,388. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $141.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.10. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $94.89 and a 52-week high of $149.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. Garmin's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at $91,173,339.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company's stock.

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.