Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

GRMN has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Garmin from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $135.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Barrington Research boosted their price target on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a strong-buy rating and set a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $142.33.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $143.11 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $138.61 and its 200 day moving average is $125.14. Garmin has a 1 year low of $94.89 and a 1 year high of $149.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Garmin will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 43.52%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total value of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at $91,173,339.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last quarter. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 9.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 17.5% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 20,329 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 0.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,475,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $174,989,000 after acquiring an additional 11,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 378.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,785 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,414,000 after acquiring an additional 29,893 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.