Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stock Position in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 47.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,511 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Brunswick were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G Plc lifted its stake in Brunswick by 15.1% in the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 55,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 7,261 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brunswick by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 848,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,919,000 after purchasing an additional 42,332 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Brunswick during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,777,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Brunswick by 11.4% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 82,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,942,000 after buying an additional 8,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Brunswick by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,266,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $701,331,000 after buying an additional 160,531 shares during the period. 99.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brunswick Stock Performance

BC stock opened at $80.56 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Brunswick Co. has a 12-month low of $66.47 and a 12-month high of $99.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97 and a beta of 1.52.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.10). Brunswick had a net margin of 5.92% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.35 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Brunswick Co. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Brunswick’s payout ratio is 31.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BC. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Brunswick from $97.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Brunswick from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Friday, July 26th. B. Riley reduced their target price on shares of Brunswick from $108.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Brunswick in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brunswick currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.21.

Insider Activity at Brunswick

In other news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.34, for a total value of $29,119.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,155.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.