Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Short Interest Update

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,750,000 shares, a decrease of 6.5% from the January 15th total of 2,940,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 782,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Garmin Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE GRMN traded up $2.14 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $212.37. The stock had a trading volume of 892,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 645,349. The company has a market capitalization of $40.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin has a 1-year low of $121.20 and a 1-year high of $223.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $212.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total value of $366,270.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This trade represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Garmin by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,067,708 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,726,645,000 after purchasing an additional 215,344 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,216,819,000 after purchasing an additional 134,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,438,796 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $913,544,000 after purchasing an additional 75,332 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $396,184,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

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.