Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GRMN. Barrington Research lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial restated a strong-buy rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $142.33.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $143.03 on Tuesday. Garmin has a 1-year low of $94.89 and a 1-year high of $149.54. The stock has a market cap of $27.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.32.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.32. Garmin had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 16.60%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares in the company, valued at $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.15, for a total transaction of $2,192,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 623,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,173,339.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,476 shares of company stock worth $14,166,944 over the last 90 days. 19.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 169.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 283 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 35.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Hedge funds and other 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.