Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

GRMN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $156.83.

Garmin Stock Performance

NYSE GRMN opened at $161.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.98. Garmin has a one year low of $99.61 and a one year high of $171.64.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin by 213.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,342,000 after acquiring an additional 28,301 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Services acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $2,365,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $8,691,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 30,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,861,000 after purchasing an additional 6,939 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 369.6% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 11,087 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.