Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) Short Interest Up 5.2% in December

Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,020,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the November 30th total of 2,870,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 895,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Garmin Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of GRMN stock opened at $206.26 on Thursday. Garmin has a 12 month low of $119.15 and a 12 month high of $222.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $206.91 and a 200-day moving average of $183.19. The firm has a market cap of $39.61 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.97.

Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.53. Garmin had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 25.48%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 EPS. Garmin’s revenue was up 24.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Garmin will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on GRMN. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Garmin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Garmin from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley cut Garmin from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Garmin from $133.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Garmin news, CFO Douglas G. Boessen sold 1,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,743,019.88. This represents a 6.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sean Biddlecombe sold 587 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.10, for a total transaction of $123,328.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,291,484.70. This represents a 8.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 19.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Garmin by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,713 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,155,000 after purchasing an additional 5,965 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Garmin by 35.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $22,755,000 after purchasing an additional 35,703 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Garmin in the third quarter worth $185,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Garmin in the 3rd quarter valued at $501,000. Finally, Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Garmin during the 3rd quarter worth $3,137,000. 81.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Garmin Company Profile

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.