HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 722 Shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,251 shares of the company’s stock after selling 722 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brunswick during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Financial Perspectives Inc purchased a new position in Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in Brunswick by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brunswick in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Brunswick in the 3rd quarter worth about $313,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on Brunswick from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Brunswick from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Brunswick from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Brunswick from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brunswick currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $28,426.45. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,664,949.65. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Randall S. Altman sold 3,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.21, for a total value of $215,988.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 26,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,686,632.43. This trade represents a 11.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brunswick Price Performance

NYSE BC opened at $53.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.36 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.65. Brunswick Co. has a 52-week low of $52.12 and a 52-week high of $96.51.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.06. Brunswick had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 2.48%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brunswick Co. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.53%.

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.