Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

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

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on GRMN. Barclays lifted their price target on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a strong-buy rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America lifted 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. Finally, Barrington Research upped their price objective on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $153.50.

Garmin Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of GRMN traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $166.02. The stock had a trading volume of 163,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 953,597. The company has a market cap of $31.89 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $167.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.61.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Garmin will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.18%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 in the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $54,460,000. SW Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Garmin in the fourth quarter worth about $28,279,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 153.8% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 291,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $37,737,000 after acquiring an additional 176,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Garmin by 2.5% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,246,834 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $762,367,000 after buying an additional 176,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

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.