Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Short Interest Down 8.7% in December

Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,570,000 shares, a decrease of 8.7% from the November 30th total of 3,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 592,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.0 days. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brunswick news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 23,829 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total value of $1,911,562.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 251,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,142,760.68. The trade was a 8.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph W. Mcclanathan sold 4,745 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.14, for a total value of $380,264.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,540,130.52. This represents a 19.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 28,940 shares of company stock valued at $2,321,176. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Brunswick by 7.6% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 221,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,087,000 after acquiring an additional 15,602 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Brunswick in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,289,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Brunswick by 99,353.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 12,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 12,916 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Brunswick by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,461,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,337,000 after buying an additional 57,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Brunswick by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 40,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,925,000 after buying an additional 6,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Brunswick in a report on Friday, October 25th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Brunswick from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $92.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.54.

Brunswick Price Performance

NYSE BC traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $64.68. 757,039 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 694,336. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $76.76 and a 200-day moving average of $77.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. Brunswick has a one year low of $63.08 and a one year high of $97.03. The stock has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 1.50.

Brunswick Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.79%.

About Brunswick

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.