Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) - What Are Investment Firms Thinking About This Stock?

Key Points

• Analysts remain moderately bullish on Garmin: Nine brokerages give the stock a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with an average 12-month price target of $313.71, though most recommendations are holds.
• Garmin’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.81 versus the $2.30 consensus and revenue of $2.02 billion, up 11.4% year over year.
• Institutional ownership is high at 81.6%, while insiders have sold 16,108 shares worth approximately $4.8 million over the past 90 days. GRMN recently traded at $294.19, near its 52-week high of $314.28.

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $313.71.

Several research analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Garmin in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Arete Research started coverage on Garmin in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research lowered Garmin from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Garmin from $249.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 986 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.88, for a total value of $288,779.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,763,430.48. This represents a 14.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Joshua H. Maxfield sold 1,152 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.13, for a total transaction of $335,381.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 15,042 shares in the company, valued at $4,379,177.46. This represents a 7.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,108 shares of company stock worth $4,808,799. 14.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 121.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 107,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $25,041,000 after acquiring an additional 59,229 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter valued at about $1,447,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Garmin by 51.2% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 351,241 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $81,491,000 after purchasing an additional 119,011 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new position in Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,237,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its stake in Garmin by 198.8% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 7,452 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 4,958 shares in the last quarter. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Garmin Stock Down 0.4%

GRMN stock opened at $294.19 on Friday. Garmin has a twelve month low of $186.67 and a twelve month high of $314.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.82. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $283.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.22.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 24.47% and a return on equity of 20.95%. The business's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Garmin will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

Garmin Company Profile

Garmin Ltd. NYSE: GRMN designs and manufactures GPS-enabled technology and smart devices for fitness, outdoor recreation, aviation, marine, and automotive markets. Its product portfolio includes smartwatches, cycling computers, sports and activity trackers, satellite communication devices, navigation systems, and related sensors and accessories.

The company also develops aviation systems and avionics, marine chartplotters and sonar equipment, and navigation and infotainment solutions for vehicle manufacturers.

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