Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Brunswick Co. (NYSE:BC) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 996,997 shares of the company’s stock after selling 78,848 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.51% of Brunswick worth $64,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Brunswick by 17.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,090,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,010,000 after purchasing an additional 452,116 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Brunswick by 1,120.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 354,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,725,000 after buying an additional 325,574 shares during the period. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. bought a new position in Brunswick in the 4th quarter worth about $16,400,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of Brunswick by 50.2% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 683,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,328,000 after acquiring an additional 228,662 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Brunswick by 447.5% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 271,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,772,000 after acquiring an additional 222,062 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brunswick

In other news, Director Nancy E. Cooper sold 433 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.65, for a total value of $28,426.45. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,664,949.65. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Brunswick Stock Performance

Shares of BC stock opened at $64.64 on Thursday. Brunswick Co. has a 12-month low of $62.64 and a 12-month high of $96.65. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.02 and a beta of 1.54.

Brunswick (NYSE:BC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brunswick Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This is an increase from Brunswick’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Brunswick’s payout ratio is currently 88.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on Brunswick from $91.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Brunswick from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Brunswick from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Brunswick from $92.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Brunswick from $95.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.85.

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.