StockNews.com Upgrades Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) to “Buy”

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

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America cut shares of Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $161.15 on Tuesday. Garmin has a 52 week low of $99.61 and a 52 week high of $171.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.95 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $163.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.98.

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

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $54,460,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the first quarter worth about $38,727,000. SW Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $28,279,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after acquiring an additional 190,739 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Garmin by 153.8% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 291,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $37,737,000 after acquiring an additional 176,908 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.