Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

GRMN has been the subject of several other reports. Barrington Research raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $153.50.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $165.97. 973,141 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 983,928. The company has a market cap of $31.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin has a 52 week low of $99.56 and a 52 week high of $166.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.28.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Garmin will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total value of $349,710.66. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total transaction of $2,233,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 653,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,349,344.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 over the last ninety days. 19.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,460,000. SW Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,279,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Garmin by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after purchasing an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in Garmin by 153.8% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 291,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $37,737,000 after purchasing an additional 176,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Garmin by 2.5% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,246,834 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $762,367,000 after purchasing an additional 176,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

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.