Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) Short Interest Down 16.7% in July

Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,600,000 shares, a drop of 16.7% from the July 15th total of 5,520,000 shares. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 817,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Brunswick Stock Up 0.3 %

BC stock opened at $76.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 1.52. Brunswick has a 1 year low of $66.47 and a 1 year high of $99.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.17.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Brunswick had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 5.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Brunswick will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BC shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Brunswick from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. B. Riley dropped their price target on Brunswick from $108.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Brunswick from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Brunswick from $97.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Brunswick in a report on Friday, July 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Brunswick has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.21.

Insider Activity at Brunswick

In related news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 358 shares of Brunswick stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.34, for a total transaction of $29,119.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,877 shares in the company, valued at $1,942,155.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brunswick

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Brunswick during the first quarter valued at approximately $124,840,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Brunswick in the 4th quarter valued at $65,105,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Brunswick in the 1st quarter valued at $38,655,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Brunswick by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 806,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,019,000 after buying an additional 334,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brunswick by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,144,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,712,000 after acquiring an additional 278,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Brunswick Company 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.