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

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 345,500 shares, a growth of 14.9% from the October 15th total of 300,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 236,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brady news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total transaction of $216,020.27. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,727 shares in the company, valued at $737,014.79. This trade represents a 22.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total value of $916,934.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 102,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,520,297.40. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,262 shares of company stock worth $3,371,231 in the last quarter. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brady

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRC. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Brady by 54.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 350,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $23,107,000 after acquiring an additional 123,296 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Brady in the first quarter valued at $438,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Brady by 36.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $4,305,000 after buying an additional 59,934 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Brady by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 287,585 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,048,000 after buying an additional 38,626 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

Brady Price Performance

Shares of BRC stock traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $74.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 172,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 271,674. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Brady has a fifty-two week low of $52.68 and a fifty-two week high of $77.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.89.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $343.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.74 million. Brady had a net margin of 14.70% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brady will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.