Brunswick (NYSE:BC) Shares Up 9% After Analyst Upgrade

Brunswick Corporation (NYSE:BC)’s stock price shot up 9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Jefferies Financial Group now has a $115.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $65.00. Brunswick traded as high as $81.78 and last traded at $82.4950. 1,297,126 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 52% from the average session volume of 850,580 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.67.

BC has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Brunswick from $74.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Brunswick from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Brunswick from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Brunswick from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $51.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brunswick currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.14.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brunswick

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Brunswick by 10.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 149,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,024,000 after acquiring an additional 14,395 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Brunswick by 133.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,076,000 after acquiring an additional 44,228 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brunswick in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,976,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Brunswick by 142.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 346,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,659,000 after purchasing an additional 203,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of Brunswick during the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. Institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Stock Up 2.4%

The firm has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.83 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.56 and a 200 day moving average of $65.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. Brunswick had a positive return on equity of 10.55% and a negative net margin of 4.60%.The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Brunswick has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.250-3.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brunswick Corporation will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Brunswick Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 26th. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -47.25%.

About Brunswick

Founded in 1845 by John Moses Brunswick, Brunswick Corporation is a global leader in recreation products. Headquartered in Mettawa, Illinois, the company has evolved from its origins as a billiard table manufacturer into a diversified supplier of leisure equipment, serving both consumer and commercial markets around the world.

Brunswick operates through two primary segments: Marine and Bowling & Billiards. In its Marine segment, the company designs, manufactures and distributes recreational boats, outboard engines and aftermarket parts under recognized brands such as Sea Ray, Bayliner and Mercury Marine.