Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Separately, Bank of America cut Garmin from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $151.33.

Garmin Trading Down 5.1 %

GRMN opened at $172.68 on Thursday. Garmin has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $184.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $173.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.32.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 24.36%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Garmin will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Garmin’s payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,257,359.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. Corporate insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,160 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Garmin by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,009 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $20,486,000 after purchasing an additional 13,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 129,846 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $16,691,000 after buying an additional 10,621 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is currently 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.