Clarius Group LLC Sells 271 Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Clarius Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 20.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 271 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 864.3% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Garmin by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Garmin from $188.00 to $152.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.00.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total value of $1,605,471.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,626 shares in the company, valued at $28,785,484.50. This trade represents a 5.28% 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. 15.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $198.17 on Friday. Garmin Ltd. has a 52 week low of $158.90 and a 52 week high of $246.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $198.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.58. The company has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.21% and a net margin of 22.76%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.37%.

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.