Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $162.67.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

Garmin Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE GRMN opened at $207.45 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.88. The stock has a market cap of $39.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.97. Garmin has a 52 week low of $118.79 and a 52 week high of $215.55.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Garmin will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,424 shares of company stock worth $638,159 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the first quarter worth approximately $253,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.4% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 178,073 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,500,000 after purchasing an additional 7,553 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Garmin by 5.9% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 36.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 27,307 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,065,000 after purchasing an additional 7,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 2.5% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,593 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.