Meeder Asset Management Inc. Has $1.46 Million Stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,079 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,296 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Garmin were worth $1,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $396,184,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 1,580.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 270,186 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 1.2% during the fourth 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 grew its holdings in Garmin by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 675,950 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $139,421,000 after purchasing an additional 164,818 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Garmin by 79.3% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 361,490 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $74,561,000 after purchasing an additional 159,860 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN opened at $213.59 on Monday. Garmin Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $138.86 and a fifty-two week high of $246.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $217.31 and its 200 day moving average is $203.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 49.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.55, for a total transaction of $625,957.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,008,550.80. This represents a 8.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,963,108.50. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094. Company 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.