FIL Ltd Acquires 851,449 Shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 323.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,114,324 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 851,449 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $72,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,097,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,646,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Brunswick by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,757,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,655,000 after acquiring an additional 269,413 shares during the period. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. acquired a new position in Brunswick in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,400,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Brunswick by 43.3% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 769,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,798,000 after purchasing an additional 232,622 shares during the period. 99.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Brunswick from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. DA Davidson lowered their price target 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. Citigroup cut their price objective on Brunswick from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on Brunswick from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brunswick news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 433 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total transaction of $28,426.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,664,949.65. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Randall S. Altman sold 3,417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.21, for a total value of $215,988.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 26,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,686,632.43. This represents a 11.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Brunswick Trading Up 14.5 %

NYSE:BC opened at $48.03 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.66. Brunswick Co. has a 12 month low of $41.00 and a 12 month high of $91.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.06. Brunswick had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 2.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Brunswick Co. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.53%.

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.