Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $93.38.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BC. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley raised shares of Brunswick from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of Brunswick in a report on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $91.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th.

Brunswick Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BC opened at $76.97 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Brunswick has a 12-month low of $66.47 and a 12-month high of $99.68. The company has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 1.55.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by ($0.01). Brunswick had a return on equity of 25.37% and a net margin of 6.24%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Brunswick will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brunswick

In related news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.34, for a total value of $28,681.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,211 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,771.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.34, for a total value of $28,681.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,211 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,771.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Brenna Preisser sold 1,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.09, for a total transaction of $100,560.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 58,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,767,458.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,917,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,483,000 after buying an additional 47,053 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 178,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,317,000 after buying an additional 42,089 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 224.7% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 49,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,906,000 after buying an additional 34,220 shares in the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new stake in shares of Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth approximately $800,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 78.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 55,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,384,000 after buying an additional 24,501 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.