Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Gap Down to $182.76

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $182.76, but opened at $173.22. Garmin shares last traded at $171.13, with a volume of 274,127 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GRMN. Barclays downgraded shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $181.00 to $133.00 in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.33.

Garmin Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $33.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.88.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174 over the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in Garmin in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 73.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth $46,000. 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.