Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 446,300 shares, an increase of 29.2% from the October 31st total of 345,500 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 262,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Brady from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total transaction of $216,020.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $737,014.79. This represents a 22.67 % 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, CEO Russell Shaller sold 21,128 shares of Brady stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total value of $1,590,938.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 102,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,691,895. This represents a 17.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 45,262 shares of company stock valued at $3,371,231. 15.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Brady by 36.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,493,000 after purchasing an additional 11,309 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Brady by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 40,386 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,394,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Brady in the 1st quarter valued at $13,439,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Brady by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 453,622 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,950,000 after purchasing an additional 65,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Brady by 337.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

Brady Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRC opened at $74.89 on Monday. Brady has a fifty-two week low of $54.97 and a fifty-two week high of $77.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $74.23 and a 200-day moving average of $70.78.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 18th. The industrial products company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $377.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.88 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brady will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Brady’s dividend payout ratio is 23.59%.

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.