JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Price Target to $175.00

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) had its price target lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $155.00 to $175.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Tigress Financial reiterated a strong-buy rating and set a $175.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Garmin in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Garmin from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $120.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barrington Research raised their price objective on Garmin from $119.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $153.50.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN traded up $0.64 on Thursday, hitting $165.97. 973,141 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 983,928. The business’s fifty day moving average is $145.23 and its 200 day moving average is $129.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 0.99. Garmin has a fifty-two week low of $99.56 and a fifty-two week high of $166.43.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.26% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. Analysts forecast that Garmin will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Garmin Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.19, for a total transaction of $217,656.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Clifton A. Pemble sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 owns 159,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,379,016.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Burrell sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $2,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 758,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,236,760. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 99,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,166,944. Company insiders own 19.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GRMN. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,460,000. SW Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,279,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Garmin by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 862,527 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $110,869,000 after acquiring an additional 190,739 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Garmin by 153.8% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 291,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $37,737,000 after acquiring an additional 176,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Garmin by 2.5% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,246,834 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $762,367,000 after acquiring an additional 176,510 shares in the last quarter. 73.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.