Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $216.30 and last traded at $215.75, with a volume of 190310 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $210.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on GRMN shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.67.

Garmin Trading Up 2.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $41.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $182.77 and a 200-day moving average of $174.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,424 shares of company stock valued at $638,159. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in Garmin by 0.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 6,686 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,056 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,290,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.6% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 0.7% during the third quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 5.8% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.