Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $215.55 and last traded at $214.55, with a volume of 95463 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $212.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock 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 lowered their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Garmin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.67.

Garmin Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $179.96 and its 200-day moving average is $172.31. The firm has a market cap of $40.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 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 net margin of 25.48% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Garmin Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Garmin

In other news, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,081,348.12. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,484.70. This trade represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,479 shares of company stock worth $2,419,502. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its stake in Garmin by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 6,686 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in Garmin by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,056 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Garmin by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,715 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 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.