Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $210.80.

GRMN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price target for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays upped their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN opened at $214.67 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.05. The firm has a market cap of $41.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin has a 1-year low of $138.86 and a 1-year high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Garmin will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 7,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.14, for a total transaction of $1,635,862.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,525 shares in the company, valued at $33,963,108.50. This trade represents a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 in the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Garmin by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after acquiring an additional 156,441 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin during the third quarter worth approximately $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after buying an additional 3,415 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $734,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Garmin by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,937,000 after buying an additional 128,672 shares during the last quarter. 81.60% 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.