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

Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $92.08.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BC. 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 report on Tuesday, February 20th. BNP Paribas reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set 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 price target on shares of Brunswick from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Brunswick from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd.

Brunswick Stock Performance

BC opened at $83.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.51. Brunswick has a 1-year low of $66.47 and a 1-year high of $99.68. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Brunswick’s payout ratio is 28.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brunswick

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BC. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brunswick by 0.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,426,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $519,843,000 after purchasing an additional 46,519 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Brunswick by 140.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,435,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,393,000 after buying an additional 2,006,578 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,121,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,612,000 after purchasing an additional 53,083 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,972,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,794,000 after purchasing an additional 9,465 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,917,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,483,000 after buying an additional 47,053 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.