Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Short Interest Up 6.5% in April

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Brunswick from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Brunswick from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. BNP Paribas restated a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 price target (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Brunswick from $91.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.83.

Insider Transactions at Brunswick

In other news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total transaction of $3,048,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 272,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,748,450.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.34, for a total value of $28,681.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,864,771.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 272,626 shares in the company, valued at $23,748,450.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,053 shares of company stock valued at $4,602,880 in the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brunswick

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 140.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,435,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,393,000 after buying an additional 2,006,578 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Brunswick in the 1st quarter valued at $124,840,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Brunswick in the 4th quarter valued at $65,105,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 127.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 866,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,432,000 after buying an additional 485,588 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 806,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,019,000 after buying an additional 334,851 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Stock Performance

BC stock opened at $80.33 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.00. Brunswick has a fifty-two week low of $66.47 and a fifty-two week high of $99.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 14.93 and a beta of 1.60.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.36 by ($0.01). Brunswick had a return on equity of 25.37% and a net margin of 6.24%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.57 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Brunswick will post 7.39 EPS for the current year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

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

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.