Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Arete Research

Equities research analysts at Arete Research assumed coverage on shares of Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) in a research report issued on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Arete Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 21.01% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on GRMN. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Garmin from $249.00 to $289.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $238.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $313.71.

Garmin Price Performance

NYSE:GRMN opened at $276.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $287.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.34. Garmin has a 1 year low of $186.67 and a 1 year high of $314.28.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 20.95% and a net margin of 24.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Garmin will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.88, for a total transaction of $288,779.68. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,021 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Joshua Maxfield sold 1,152 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.13, for a total value of $335,381.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 15,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,379,177.46. The trade was a 7.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,108 shares of company stock worth $4,808,799. Corporate insiders own 14.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,631,843 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $378,540,000 after purchasing an additional 40,474 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 73.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,295,199 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $300,499,000 after purchasing an additional 549,954 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Garmin by 82.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,017,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $236,027,000 after buying an additional 459,980 shares during the period. Man Group plc increased its stake in Garmin by 232.0% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 812,390 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $164,793,000 after buying an additional 567,711 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Garmin by 192.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 506,273 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $117,460,000 after buying an additional 333,345 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company that develops products using global positioning system (GPS), satellite communications and other location-based technologies. The company serves consumers, businesses and professional users through product lines focused on fitness, outdoor recreation, aviation, marine and automotive applications.

Its offerings include smartwatches and fitness trackers, cycling computers, navigation devices, satellite communicators, outdoor handhelds, marine chartplotters and sonar systems, and aviation navigation and communication equipment.