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

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

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on BC. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Brunswick to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Benchmark lifted their target price on Brunswick from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $94.00 target price (up from $79.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Brunswick from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.57.

Brunswick Stock Down 1.2%

Brunswick stock opened at $70.31 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $81.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.03. 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 $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.17 and a beta of 1.39. Brunswick has a twelve month low of $41.00 and a twelve month high of $90.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David M. Foulkes sold 38,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.56, for a total transaction 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 represents a 12.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher F. Dekker sold 4,981 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.38, for a total value of $435,239.78. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 39,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,472,481.20. This trade represents a 11.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brunswick

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 35,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,733 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Brunswick by 45.6% during 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% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 765,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,842,000 after purchasing an additional 606,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Brunswick by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 31,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,763 shares in the last quarter. 99.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.