Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 19,179 Shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 802,292 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,179 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $77,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Brunswick during the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Brunswick by 140.4% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 41,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,496,000 after buying an additional 24,171 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in Brunswick by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 28,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,286,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Brunswick by 0.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,426,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,843,000 after acquiring an additional 46,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in Brunswick by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 45,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,746,000 after acquiring an additional 3,992 shares during the period. 99.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BC shares. BNP Paribas reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (down from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a report on Monday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Brunswick from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James lowered shares of Brunswick from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Brunswick from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.69.

Brunswick Stock Performance

Shares of BC opened at $82.09 on Friday. Brunswick Co. has a 52 week low of $66.47 and a 52 week high of $99.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a positive change from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brunswick news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total value of $3,048,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 272,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,748,450.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Ryan M. Gwillim sold 9,036 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.10, for a total transaction of $787,035.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,522,938.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total transaction of $3,048,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 272,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,748,450.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,696 shares of company stock worth $4,574,199. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.