Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $156.83.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Bank of America lowered shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the third quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Garmin by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $173.00 on Thursday. Garmin has a 1 year low of $99.61 and a 1 year high of $174.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $164.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.55. The company has a market cap of $33.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Garmin will post 5.77 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s payout ratio is 42.31%.

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.