Legal & General Group Plc Sells 5,300 Shares of Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 137,191 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,300 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $8,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Financial Perspectives Inc acquired a new stake in Brunswick during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in Brunswick by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Brunswick during the fourth quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brunswick in the fourth quarter valued at $262,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Brunswick to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. B. Riley raised shares of Brunswick to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Baird R W downgraded Brunswick from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Brunswick from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.67.

Insider Transactions at Brunswick

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 transaction of $28,426.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,664,949.65. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Randall S. Altman sold 3,417 shares of Brunswick 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 26,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,686,632.43. This represents a 11.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Brunswick Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:BC opened at $43.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02 and a beta of 1.42. Brunswick Co. has a 1-year low of $41.00 and a 1-year high of $87.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $55.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.14. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Brunswick Co. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This is a boost from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Brunswick’s dividend payout ratio is 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.