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 report published on Friday morning.

A number of other analysts have also commented on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Up 2.7 %

GRMN stock opened at $178.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.74. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $178.51.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. Garmin’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Garmin will post 5.77 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 213.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,342,000 after purchasing an additional 28,301 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $2,365,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth $8,691,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in Garmin by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 30,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,861,000 after acquiring an additional 6,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 369.6% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 11,087 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by 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.