Short Interest in Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Rises By 34.5%

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,980,000 shares, an increase of 34.5% from the February 28th total of 2,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 947,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, Director Matthew Munn sold 4,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.31, for a total transaction of $1,044,762.47. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,579,799.50. This represents a 28.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Susan Lyman sold 2,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.51, for a total transaction of $609,677.79. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,817,180.32. The trade was a 25.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,342 shares of company stock valued at $5,486,094 over the last three months. 19.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its stake in Garmin by 864.3% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 135 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Garmin during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted 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 worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Garmin in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

Garmin Stock Performance

GRMN traded down $1.16 on Wednesday, hitting $216.41. 413,332 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 849,001. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.34 and its 200-day moving average is $203.59. The company has a market cap of $41.64 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.96. Garmin has a 12 month low of $138.86 and a 12 month high of $246.50.

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

Garmin Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Garmin’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.25%.

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.