StockNews.com Downgrades Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) to Hold

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

GRMN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.83.

Garmin Trading Down 0.4 %

GRMN traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $180.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 627,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 839,482. Garmin has a twelve month low of $99.61 and a twelve month high of $183.88. The stock has a market cap of $34.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.47.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Garmin will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total transaction of $379,830.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,256.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,242 shares of company stock valued at $2,676,004 over the last 90 days. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Garmin by 61.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 119,597 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $15,373,000 after acquiring an additional 45,509 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in Garmin by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 30,041 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,861,000 after purchasing an additional 6,939 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Garmin by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,160 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Garmin by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 849,217 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $109,158,000 after buying an additional 36,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin during the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.