Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $92.08.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BC shares. BNP Paribas reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Brunswick from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Brunswick from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. B. Riley raised shares of Brunswick from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Friday, March 15th.

Brunswick Price Performance

Shares of BC opened at $83.93 on Monday. Brunswick has a fifty-two week low of $66.47 and a fifty-two week high of $99.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 1.56.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Brunswick had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 29.78%. The company’s revenue was down 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.99 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Brunswick will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Brunswick’s payout ratio is 28.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total transaction of $3,048,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 272,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,748,450.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total transaction of $3,048,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 272,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,748,450.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Christopher F. Dekker sold 6,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.53, for a total transaction of $526,960.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 35,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,973,427.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,696 shares of company stock worth $4,574,199 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brunswick

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BC. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brunswick by 224.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 49,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,906,000 after purchasing an additional 34,220 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Brunswick by 127.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 866,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,432,000 after buying an additional 485,588 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Brunswick in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,460,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brunswick by 29.5% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 144,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,422,000 after purchasing an additional 32,901 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Brunswick by 10.6% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 156,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,371,000 after purchasing an additional 15,042 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Company Profile

Brunswick Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets recreation products in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Propulsion, Engine P&A, Navico Group, and Boat. The Propulsion segment provides outboard, sterndrive, inboard engines, propulsion-related controls, rigging, and propellers for boat builders through marine retail dealers under the Mercury, Mercury MerCruiser, Mariner, Mercury Racing, Mercury Diesel, Avator, and Fliteboard brands.