Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Given Consensus Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Reduce" by the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $162.67.

GRMN has been the subject of several research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Garmin from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 19.54% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $22,755,000 after purchasing an additional 35,703 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the third quarter valued at about $185,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the third quarter worth about $501,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,137,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,147 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,675,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Up 0.9 %

GRMN traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $218.58. The company had a trading volume of 661,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 818,862. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $190.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.16. Garmin has a 52 week low of $119.15 and a 52 week high of $219.54. The company has a market capitalization of $41.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Garmin will post 7.01 EPS for the current year.

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.