Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $156.83.

GRMN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target 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.

Garmin Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:GRMN traded up $3.31 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $166.76. The stock had a trading volume of 857,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 858,940. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.09. Garmin has a 52 week low of $99.61 and a 52 week high of $171.64.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. Garmin's quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Garmin will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Garmin's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in Garmin by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,310,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $939,642,000 after purchasing an additional 63,278 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,715,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $220,541,000 after acquiring an additional 45,242 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Garmin by 4.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $210,799,000 after acquiring an additional 58,343 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Garmin by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,291,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $166,021,000 after acquiring an additional 54,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Garmin by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 932,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $119,838,000 after acquiring an additional 6,858 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.