Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 402 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,051 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 402 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Garmin were worth $752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in Garmin by 3.3% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 542 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,168 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Folios Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,768 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:GRMN traded up $4.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $177.94. 1,059,479 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 673,682. Garmin Ltd. has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $178.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $164.80 and a 200 day moving average of $148.93.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

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.