Analysts Set Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Price Target at $195.67

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $210.80.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GRMN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 6,911 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,048 shares in the company, valued at $14,321,353.20. The trade was a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,874 shares of company stock worth $3,571,966. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in Garmin by 864.3% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Garmin by 578.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 81.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $223.98 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $214.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.16. Garmin has a 12-month low of $134.11 and a 12-month high of $246.50. The firm has a market cap of $43.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Garmin will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

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.