Brunswick (NYSE:BC) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $94.00 price target (up from $79.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $82.00 price objective on Brunswick in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Brunswick from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $85.00 target price on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.57.

Brunswick Stock Performance

NYSE BC opened at $70.31 on Friday. Brunswick has a twelve month low of $41.00 and a twelve month high of $90.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.17 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.89.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58. The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Brunswick had a negative net margin of 2.56% and a positive return on equity of 12.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Brunswick will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 38,266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.56, for a total value of $3,312,304.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 271,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,472,388.64. This trade represents a 12.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Christopher F. Dekker sold 4,981 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.38, for a total value of $435,239.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 39,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,472,481.20. This represents a 11.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brunswick

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Brunswick by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 35,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,733 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 77.7% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,693 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Brunswick by 381.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 765,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,842,000 after purchasing an additional 606,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Brunswick by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,327,000 after buying an additional 3,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Company Profile

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.