Short Interest in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Declines By 8.0%

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,290,000 shares, a decline of 8.0% from the June 15th total of 2,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 765,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GRMN. Bank of America cut Garmin from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Garmin from $140.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Garmin from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Garmin from $175.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.83.

Garmin Stock Performance

Garmin stock opened at $173.00 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.23 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.98. Garmin has a 52 week low of $99.61 and a 52 week high of $174.51.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Garmin will post 5.77 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 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 2,350 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.63, for a total value of $379,830.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,256.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick Desbois sold 4,126 shares of Garmin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.52, for a total value of $674,683.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,412 shares in the company, valued at $9,551,530.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 542 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,168 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Garmin by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,518 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 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.