Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

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

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN opened at $180.09 on Friday. Garmin has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $183.88. The stock has a market cap of $34.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $159.47.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Garmin will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,242 shares of company stock worth $2,676,004 in the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth $46,000. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.