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

Shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $92.83.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $91.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Thursday, April 25th.

Brunswick Trading Up 2.5 %

BC opened at $72.77 on Friday. Brunswick has a fifty-two week low of $66.47 and a fifty-two week high of $99.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.79.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Brunswick will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Brunswick Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Brunswick’s payout ratio is 31.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brunswick news, VP Brenna Preisser sold 1,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.09, for a total transaction of $100,560.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 58,076 shares in the company, valued at $4,767,458.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $1,864,771.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brenna Preisser sold 1,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was 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 Trading of Brunswick

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth about $5,777,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Brunswick by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,917,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,483,000 after purchasing an additional 47,053 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Brunswick by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 178,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,317,000 after purchasing an additional 42,089 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brunswick by 224.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new position in shares of Brunswick in the fourth quarter worth about $800,000. Institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

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.