Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Holdings Decreased by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its stake in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 167,089 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,207 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.09% of Garmin worth $34,464,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after buying an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,216,819,000 after acquiring an additional 134,303 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $765,912,000 after purchasing an additional 112,815 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth $396,184,000. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in Garmin by 3.6% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,401,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $246,619,000 after purchasing an additional 48,645 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $178.18 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $216.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $203.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $138.86 and a 52 week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.25%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Garmin 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.