StockNews.com Downgrades Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

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

Garmin Stock Down 0.8 %

Garmin stock opened at $176.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $164.93 and its 200 day moving average is $149.48. Garmin has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $178.51.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

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.