Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyGarmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 3,069,705 shares, a decrease of 23.9% from the February 12th total of 4,031,945 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,506,230 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,506,230 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.
Insider Activity
In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 3,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.66, for a total transaction of $877,538.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 28,049 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,058,811.34. This trade represents a 11.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Matthew Munn sold 5,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.97, for a total value of $1,323,866.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,478,579.72. This trade represents a 34.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 57,319 shares of company stock worth $13,650,815 in the last quarter. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Garmin by 2.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,197,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $4,973,044,000 after acquiring an additional 499,235 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 1.8% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 126,677 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Garmin by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,892,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,229,810,000 after purchasing an additional 356,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Garmin by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 59,321 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Garmin during the 2nd quarter worth about $410,304,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts have issued reports on GRMN shares. Longbow Research upgraded shares of Garmin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Garmin from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Garmin in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Garmin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays set a $240.00 price target on Garmin in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Garmin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.00.
Get Our Latest Analysis on GRMN
Garmin Stock Up 0.5%
Shares of GRMN stock traded up $1.21 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $234.73. 684,331 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,120,937. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $221.85 and a 200 day moving average of $221.84. Garmin has a 1 year low of $169.26 and a 1 year high of $261.69. The firm has a market cap of $45.18 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.94.
Garmin (NYSE:GRMN – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.40. Garmin had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 19.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 earnings per share. Garmin’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Garmin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.350-9.350 EPS. Analysts expect that Garmin will post 7.8 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 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 12th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Garmin’s payout ratio is currently 41.86%.
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.