Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Down 3.5% – What’s Next?

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)’s stock price fell 3.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $206.11 and last traded at $206.44. 86,923 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 781,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $213.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GRMN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $219.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Garmin to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $265.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $158.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.80.

Garmin Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.84. The stock has a market cap of $40.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.51. Garmin had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.04%.

Insider Transactions at Garmin

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction of $366,270.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total value of $609,677.79. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. This represents a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,103 shares of company stock worth $5,852,364. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 123.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 283,412 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $49,889,000 after acquiring an additional 156,441 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,137,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $734,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 431,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,937,000 after acquiring an additional 128,672 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

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.