Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Short Interest Update

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 587,900 shares, a growth of 24.0% from the February 13th total of 474,100 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 274,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRC. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Brady by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,733,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $275,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,885 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Brady by 6,379.9% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 544,375 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,202,000 after purchasing an additional 535,974 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Brady during the 4th quarter worth $30,314,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Brady by 1,121.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 159,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,235,000 after buying an additional 146,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Brady in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,713,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

Brady Price Performance

NYSE BRC opened at $72.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $72.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.84. Brady has a 52-week low of $56.94 and a 52-week high of $77.68.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $356.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $359.21 million. Brady had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 19.79%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Brady’s payout ratio is 24.00%.

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.