Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Holdings in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its stake in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) by 0.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,011 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Garmin were worth $7,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,726,645,000 after acquiring an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Garmin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $913,544,000 after acquiring an additional 75,332 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $396,184,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Garmin by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,708,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,475,000 after acquiring an additional 149,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Garmin by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $352,394,000 after acquiring an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE GRMN opened at $201.86 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $198.87 and its 200-day moving average is $207.25. Garmin Ltd. has a 12-month low of $158.90 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $38.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.25, for a total transaction of $1,605,471.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 141,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,785,484.50. This represents a 5.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $159.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Garmin from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lowered 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. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.00.

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.