Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,735 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 897 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 213.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,342,000 after acquiring an additional 28,301 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $2,365,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 42.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $13,191,000 after purchasing an additional 37,532 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $8,691,000. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 369.6% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 11,087 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin 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 in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 5,267 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $708,727.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,241.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 over the last three months. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock opened at $167.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $32.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin Ltd. has a 1-year low of $99.61 and a 1-year high of $167.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $145.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $130.05.

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 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 business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Barrington Research raised their price target 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. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.50.

About Garmin

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.