Barclays Downgrades Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) to Underweight

Barclays lowered shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $133.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $181.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on GRMN. StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their price target for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $151.33.

Garmin Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $172.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.16 billion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.74. Garmin has a 1-year low of $99.61 and a 1-year high of $184.42.

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

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 73.3% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. 73.41% of the stock is 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.