Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN)’s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $183.03 and traded as high as $208.18. Garmin shares last traded at $206.26, with a volume of 496,060 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. Barclays lifted 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 lowered shares of Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $171.00.

Garmin Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $206.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $183.03. The stock has a market cap of $39.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total value of $123,328.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.99, for a total transaction of $366,270.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. The trade was a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Garmin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRMN. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Garmin by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,775,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $664,540,000 after buying an additional 1,093,219 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Garmin by 136.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 711,849 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,177,000 after purchasing an additional 411,084 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth $53,252,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Garmin during the second quarter worth $45,999,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,098,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $178,958,000 after buying an additional 278,990 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

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.