Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Short Interest Up 7.1% in August

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,880,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the August 15th total of 2,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 737,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GRMN opened at $172.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.00. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $99.61 and a fifty-two week high of $184.42. The company’s 50-day moving average is $174.02 and its 200 day moving average is $161.74.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.18. Garmin had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 17.09%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. Garmin’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Garmin will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $181.00 to $133.00 in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.33.

Insider Activity at Garmin

In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total transaction of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. 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 the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 40,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,892 shares of company stock worth $2,296,174 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter valued at $1,424,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Garmin by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,743 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin in the second quarter worth $595,000. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 33,492 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,456,000 after acquiring an additional 2,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Garmin during the second quarter valued at approximately $508,000. Institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

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.