Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of GRMN opened at $161.49 on Tuesday. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $171.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $162.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.74. The firm has a market cap of $31.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 EPS. Garmin’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Garmin will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GRMN. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 81.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Garmin in the 1st quarter worth about $232,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Garmin by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 305,672 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $45,405,000 after buying an additional 13,754 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Garmin by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,416,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,799,000 after buying an additional 58,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Garmin by 77.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 4,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 2,068 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.