Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC Decreases Holdings in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC lessened its stake in shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,509 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,299 shares during the quarter. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $533,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Brunswick during the first quarter worth about $52,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in Brunswick by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 28,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,286,000 after purchasing 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 worth $519,843,000 after purchasing an additional 46,519 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in Brunswick by 9.7% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 45,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,746,000 after purchasing an additional 3,992 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Price Performance

BC traded down $0.56 on Wednesday, reaching $84.92. The company had a trading volume of 591,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 701,061. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.50. The company has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.43. Brunswick Co. has a 52-week low of $66.47 and a 52-week high of $99.68.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. Brunswick had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 29.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brunswick Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This is an increase from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brunswick news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 35,000 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 272,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,748,450.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 272,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,748,450.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Christopher F. Dekker sold 6,234 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.53, for a total transaction of $526,960.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 35,176 shares in the company, valued at $2,973,427.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,696 shares of company stock valued at $4,574,199. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BC shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Monday. B. Riley upgraded shares of Brunswick from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Brunswick from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.69.

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.