Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $310.1667.

A number of research firms recently commented on GRMN. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a report on Monday, June 8th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Garmin from $249.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Garmin Price Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $276.73 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $271.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.85. Garmin has a one year low of $186.67 and a one year high of $314.28.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 24.47%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 9,941 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.36, for a total value of $2,975,937.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,832,916.16. This trade represents a 25.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Joshua Maxfield sold 1,152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.13, for a total value of $335,381.76. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 15,042 shares in the company, valued at $4,379,177.46. This trade represents a 7.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,751 shares of company stock worth $4,978,275. Insiders own 14.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Garmin by 6.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,278,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Garmin by 40.6% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,017 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 3,757 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Garmin by 51.1% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 6,811 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 2,304 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 17.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company best known for designing and manufacturing navigation, communication and information devices that leverage global positioning system (GPS) technology. The company serves a diverse set of markets including consumer fitness and wearables, automotive navigation, aviation avionics, marine electronics and outdoor handheld devices. Garmin’s products combine hardware, mapping and software services to deliver location-aware solutions for personal, recreational and professional uses.

Garmin’s product lineup includes wearable fitness and multisport watches (Forerunner, Fenix, Venu), cycling computers and accessories (Edge, Varia), handheld and handheld-mounted GPS devices for outdoor activities, automotive and portable navigation units, marine chartplotters and fishfinders, and certified avionics for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.