Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Short Interest Down 24.9% in March

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,990,000 shares, a drop of 24.9% from the March 15th total of 3,980,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $5.44 on Thursday, hitting $199.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 686,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 873,619. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $207.81 and a 200-day moving average of $204.95. Garmin has a 12-month low of $140.46 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The company has a market capitalization of $38.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. Garmin's quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin will post 7.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,817,180.32. This trade represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.15, for a total transaction of $1,569,833.65. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $3,726,645,000 after acquiring an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $913,544,000 after purchasing an additional 75,332 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at $396,184,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Garmin by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,708,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,475,000 after buying an additional 149,210 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Garmin by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,708,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $352,394,000 after buying an additional 286,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a "sell" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Garmin from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $202.80.

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.