Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Shares Down 5.4%

Shares of Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) were down 5.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $161.10 and last traded at $161.45. Approximately 508,172 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 912,391 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GRMN shares. Barrington Research upped their target price on shares of Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America cut shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Garmin has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.83.

Garmin Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $152.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.07. The firm has a market cap of $31.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 0.99.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.42. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at $21,379,016.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Garmin news, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,587 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.18, for a total transaction of $349,710.66. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,781.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total value of $217,656.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944 over the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Garmin

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Garmin in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $13,670,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 328.3% in the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,894 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,473,000 after buying an additional 7,584 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 81.4% in the first quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 7,284 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 3,268 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 7.2% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,553 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,719,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Garmin by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 252,252 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $37,553,000 after acquiring an additional 3,317 shares during the period. 73.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.