Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,106 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $880,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BC. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brunswick in the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake 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 buying an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake 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 buying an additional 2,694 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 46,519 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake 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 buying an additional 3,992 shares during the period. 99.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BC has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Brunswick from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Brunswick from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. BNP Paribas reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.08.

Insider Activity at Brunswick

In related news, CFO Ryan M. Gwillim sold 9,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.10, for a total value of $787,035.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,938.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Brunswick news, CFO Ryan M. Gwillim sold 9,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.10, for a total transaction of $787,035.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,522,938.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher F. Dekker sold 6,234 shares of the 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 sale, 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. Insiders have sold 52,696 shares of company stock valued at $4,574,199 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE BC traded up $1.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $83.94. 885,691 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 657,398. The company has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Brunswick Co. has a twelve month low of $66.47 and a twelve month high of $99.68.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.66 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Brunswick had a net margin of 6.57% and a return on equity of 29.78%. The company’s revenue was down 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Brunswick Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This is a boost from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.24%.

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.