Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Stake Lessened by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Baillie Gifford & Co. lessened its stake in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,051,194 shares of the company’s stock after selling 315,946 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 3.11% of Brunswick worth $132,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BC. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Brunswick by 21.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Creative Planning acquired a new position in Brunswick in the third quarter worth $295,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Brunswick in the third quarter worth $26,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Brunswick by 11.9% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 949,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,553,000 after purchasing an additional 101,123 shares during the period. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Brunswick by 3.4% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 14,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on BC shares. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Brunswick from $95.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Brunswick from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Brunswick from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Brunswick from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brunswick has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.85.

Brunswick Price Performance

Shares of Brunswick stock opened at $65.55 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $67.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.47. Brunswick Co. has a 52 week low of $62.64 and a 52 week high of $96.65. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 34.50 and a beta of 1.54.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.06. Brunswick had a net margin of 2.48% and a return on equity of 15.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brunswick Co. will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This is an increase from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Brunswick’s payout ratio is presently 90.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $28,426.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,361 shares in the company, valued at $1,664,949.65. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick 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.