Short Interest in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Increases By 6.5%

Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,780,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the March 31st total of 4,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 762,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.3 days. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.34, for a total transaction of $28,681.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,211 shares in the company, valued at $1,864,771.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Brunswick news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 272,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,748,450.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.34, for a total transaction of $28,681.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,771.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,053 shares of company stock valued at $4,602,880. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brunswick

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Brunswick by 69.6% during the 1st quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 15,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,489,000 after buying an additional 6,339 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brunswick by 160.6% during the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,005,000 after buying an additional 12,802 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Brunswick by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 9,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Brunswick by 265.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,928,000 after buying an additional 14,511 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services increased its stake in shares of Brunswick by 131.1% during the first quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 8,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,000 after acquiring an additional 5,035 shares during the period. 99.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 target price (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Brunswick from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Brunswick from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Brunswick from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.83.

Brunswick Stock Down 0.4 %

Brunswick stock opened at $80.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Brunswick has a twelve month low of $66.47 and a twelve month high of $99.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.04.

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

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.23%.

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.