Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $138.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $155.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 16.18% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GRMN. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays downgraded shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $181.00 to $133.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.50.

Garmin Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of GRMN opened at $164.64 on Monday. Garmin has a 12-month low of $99.61 and a 12-month high of $184.42. The stock has a market cap of $31.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $174.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $164.68.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Garmin will post 6.05 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 that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were 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 owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total value of $1,781,343.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in Garmin by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Garmin by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $110,869,000 after acquiring an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado purchased a new position in Garmin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,149,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in Garmin by 60.3% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 302,933 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,939,000 after acquiring an additional 113,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Garmin by 67.5% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 13,576 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,745,000 after purchasing an additional 5,470 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Company Profile

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.