Cozad Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,050 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 653 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $4,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,863 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,103 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,364 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on GRMN. Barclays boosted their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $214.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 1 year low of $138.86 and a 1 year high of $246.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $216.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $200.84.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 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, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 41.04%.

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.