Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $216.30 and last traded at $215.75, with a volume of 190310 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $210.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GRMN. Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com cut Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.67.

Garmin Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.89. The stock has a market cap of $40.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,291,484.70. The trade was a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,912,536 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,216,819,000 after buying an additional 134,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,363,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $765,912,000 after buying an additional 112,815 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Garmin by 40.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Garmin by 0.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,006,563 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $326,909,000 after buying an additional 11,666 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Garmin by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,735,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $282,761,000 after buying an additional 13,968 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.