Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Barrington Research lifted 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.33.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $141.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $94.89 and a fifty-two week high of $149.54.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a return on equity of 16.60% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Garmin will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 758,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 758,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944. Corporate insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Garmin by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $939,642,000 after acquiring an additional 63,278 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Garmin by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $220,541,000 after acquiring an additional 45,242 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Garmin by 7.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,630,148 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $171,492,000 after acquiring an additional 108,427 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Garmin by 10.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,411,205 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $148,459,000 after acquiring an additional 136,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in Garmin by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $166,021,000 after acquiring an additional 54,001 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently 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.