Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Short Interest Update

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,980,000 shares, a growth of 34.5% from the February 28th total of 2,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 947,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total value of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last ninety days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 864.3% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Price Performance

GRMN stock traded up $3.75 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $217.41. 1,059,009 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 849,561. The company has a market cap of $41.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $217.31 and its 200-day moving average is $203.03. Garmin has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

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.