Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $195.67.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Creative Planning increased its position in Garmin by 3.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 34,736 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $6,115,000 after buying an additional 1,244 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 111.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 172.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 48,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $8,511,000 after acquiring an additional 30,598 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $176,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Trading Down 5.5 %

NYSE:GRMN opened at $228.61 on Friday. Garmin has a 1 year low of $128.89 and a 1 year high of $246.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $212.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.84. The stock has a market cap of $43.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.07%.

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.