StockNews.com Upgrades Brady (NYSE:BRC) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brady (NYSE:BRC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

Brady Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRC opened at $73.75 on Friday. Brady has a 1-year low of $51.35 and a 1-year high of $76.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.76.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. Brady had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 14.70%. The firm had revenue of $343.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.74 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.49%.

Insider Activity at Brady

In related news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total transaction of $916,934.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 102,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,520,297.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRC. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Brady in the first quarter worth about $13,439,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Brady by 23.5% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 560,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 106,652 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its position in Brady by 21.1% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 610,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,190,000 after purchasing an additional 106,219 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Brady by 231.8% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 132,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,716,000 after buying an additional 92,228 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Brady by 1,135.8% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 65,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,305,000 after acquiring an additional 59,934 shares during the period. 76.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Brady

Brady Corporation manufactures and supplies identification solutions (IDS) and workplace safety (WPS) products to identify and protect premises, products, and people in the United States and internationally. The company offers materials, printing systems, RFID, and bar code scanners for product identification, brand protection labeling, work in process labeling, finished product identification, and industrial track and trace applications; safety signs, floor-marking tapes, pipe markers, labeling systems, spill control products, lockout/tagout device, and software and services for safety compliance auditing, procedure writing, and training; and hand-held printers, wire markers, sleeves, and tags for wire identification.