Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Longbow Research raised shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Garmin from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Garmin from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays set a $240.00 price target on Garmin in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.00.

Garmin Stock Up 1.8%

GRMN stock opened at $251.56 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $210.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.76. Garmin has a 52-week low of $169.26 and a 52-week high of $261.69. The company has a market capitalization of $48.42 billion, a PE ratio of 29.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.00.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Garmin had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. Garmin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.350-9.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Garmin will post 7.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Garmin news, COO Patrick Desbois sold 3,678 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.40, for a total value of $773,851.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 61,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,002,299.20. This trade represents a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.41, for a total value of $103,181.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 28,488 shares in the company, valued at $6,136,600.08. The trade was a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 18,144 shares of company stock valued at $3,798,628 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 19.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Garmin

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GRMN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Garmin by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,197,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,973,044,000 after purchasing an additional 499,235 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,250,844 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,785,304,000 after buying an additional 126,677 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Garmin by 6.4% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,892,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,229,810,000 after buying an additional 356,161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Garmin by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,606,511 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $958,405,000 after buying an additional 59,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $410,304,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.60% of the company’s stock.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. is a technology company best known for designing and manufacturing navigation, communication and information devices that leverage global positioning system (GPS) technology. The company serves a diverse set of markets including consumer fitness and wearables, automotive navigation, aviation avionics, marine electronics and outdoor handheld devices. Garmin’s products combine hardware, mapping and software services to deliver location-aware solutions for personal, recreational and professional uses.

Garmin’s product lineup includes wearable fitness and multisport watches (Forerunner, Fenix, Venu), cycling computers and accessories (Edge, Varia), handheld and handheld-mounted GPS devices for outdoor activities, automotive and portable navigation units, marine chartplotters and fishfinders, and certified avionics for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.