Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $207.64 and last traded at $206.18, with a volume of 19637 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $204.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Garmin Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.86.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 in the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.9% in 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 buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.5% in the second 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 buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 3.3% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.7% in the third quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.