Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 3,051 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 78,742 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,051 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $10,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 169.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th 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 period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Up 1.2 %

GRMN traded up $1.69 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $142.71. 198,115 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 940,619. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $94.89 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54. The stock has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $140.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.85.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 43.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the business’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 approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,781.32. 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. 19.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GRMN. Barrington Research raised their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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 research 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.