Sentry Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 806 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Garmin were worth $104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 169.5% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 107.1% during the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 321 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Garmin by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 5,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,360 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,241.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 in the last quarter. 19.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barrington Research boosted their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.33.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $141.02 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $139.83 and its 200 day moving average is $125.92. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $94.89 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.52%.

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.