Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Lowers Stock Position in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 23.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 105,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 32,206 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.06% of Garmin worth $21,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 40.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1,580.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 287,283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,570,000 after buying an additional 270,186 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 215,344 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Garmin by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $139,421,000 after acquiring an additional 164,818 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Garmin by 79.3% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $74,561,000 after purchasing an additional 159,860 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Garmin Trading Down 0.1 %

Garmin stock opened at $216.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.52. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $138.86 and a 12-month high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value 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 approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $1,635,862.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock worth $5,486,094. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

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.