Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $222.97 and last traded at $221.15, with a volume of 49300 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $219.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Garmin Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $42.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $191.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.56.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. Garmin’s revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 136.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 711,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $115,177,000 after purchasing an additional 411,084 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth about $53,252,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth about $45,999,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 34.0% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $178,958,000 after purchasing an additional 278,990 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently 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.