Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Price Target Raised to $188.00

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $158.00 to $188.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on GRMN. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Garmin to a “sell” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $206.80.

Garmin Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN opened at $224.67 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin has a 52 week low of $131.20 and a 52 week high of $246.50.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a net margin of 22.42% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. Garmin’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Garmin will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 864.3% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 578.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% 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.