Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,550,000 shares, a growth of 11.4% from the June 30th total of 2,290,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 728,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.83.

Insider Activity

In other Garmin news, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total transaction of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,551,530.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Garmin by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 380 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Garmin Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of GRMN traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $176.56. The stock had a trading volume of 758,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 846,211. Garmin has a 12 month low of $99.61 and a 12 month high of $178.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.48. The company has a market capitalization of $33.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.98.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Garmin will post 5.77 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.31%.

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.