Barclays Raises Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Price Target to $158.00

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) had its target price increased by Barclays from $133.00 to $158.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.67.

Garmin Stock Performance

Shares of Garmin stock opened at $200.24 on Friday. Garmin has a 52 week low of $114.49 and a 52 week high of $207.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $174.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.45 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Garmin will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,081,348.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cheng-Wei Wang sold 10,055 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.16, for a total transaction of $1,781,343.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 40,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,257,359.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,892 shares of company stock valued at $2,296,174. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Garmin in the first quarter valued at about $847,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 55.4% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,233 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 135,709 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $20,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,863 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 1st quarter worth approximately $164,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,111 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,503,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is 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.