Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Sells 405 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lessened its holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 405 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Garmin by 9.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Garmin by 17.5% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in Garmin by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 20,329 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,475,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $174,989,000 after purchasing an additional 11,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 378.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,785 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,414,000 after purchasing an additional 29,893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $141.61 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.55. Garmin Ltd. has a one year low of $94.89 and a one year high of $149.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 43.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 three months, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barrington Research lifted their price objective on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Six 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.