Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $216.30 and last traded at $215.75, with a volume of 190310 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $210.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GRMN shares. StockNews.com downgraded Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Garmin from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Garmin presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.67.

Garmin Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $185.28 and a 200-day moving average of $174.89. The firm has a market cap of $40.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Garmin Ltd. will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Straub sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.46, for a total value of $499,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 88,622 shares in the company, valued at $16,081,348.12. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 578.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 190 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Garmin during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Garmin by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 234 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.41% of the company’s stock.

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.