New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 9,525 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 237,588 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 9,525 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $30,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Garmin by 169.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 5,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $708,727.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,241.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $143.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.32. Garmin Ltd. has a 52-week low of $94.89 and a 52-week high of $149.54. The company has a market cap of $27.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GRMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barrington Research increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.33.

Garmin Company 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.