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

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 522,000 shares, a decline of 7.3% from the December 15th total of 562,900 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 259,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Brady Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Brady stock traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $73.53. The stock had a trading volume of 436,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,799. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.94. Brady has a one year low of $56.09 and a one year high of $77.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Brady Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Brady’s payout ratio is presently 23.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brady

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brady by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,658,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $203,753,000 after purchasing an additional 753,092 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Brady by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,510,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,701,000 after acquiring an additional 24,786 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brady by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 658,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,445,000 after purchasing an additional 45,206 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in Brady by 2.9% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 618,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,422,000 after purchasing an additional 17,682 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Brady by 27.1% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 555,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,590,000 after purchasing an additional 118,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

Brady Company Profile

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.