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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Brady

In other Brady news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 owns 9,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $737,014.79. This trade represents a 22.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total transaction of $916,934.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 102,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,520,297.40. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,262 shares of company stock worth $3,371,231 over the last three months. Company insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brady

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRC. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brady in the 1st quarter worth about $313,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in Brady by 225.8% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 20,012 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 13,869 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Brady by 15.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 38,626 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brady by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,307,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $314,610,000 after purchasing an additional 32,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Brady by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347 shares during the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brady Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Brady stock opened at $76.00 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.76. Brady has a 1-year low of $52.99 and a 1-year high of $77.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.69.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last released its earnings results on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $343.40 million for 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%. Brady’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brady will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Brady’s payout ratio is currently 23.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brady from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research 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.