Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Director Nancy Lee Gioia Sells 4,250 Shares

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Director Nancy Lee Gioia sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.20, for a total transaction of $251,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $683,819.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Brady Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BRC opened at $58.82 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.58. Brady Co. has a 12-month low of $46.77 and a 12-month high of $63.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.36, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.77.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.01. Brady had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 19.24%. The firm had revenue of $322.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $339.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Brady Co. will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 9th will be given a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 8th. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brady

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in Brady by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 388,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,743,000 after acquiring an additional 158,780 shares during the period. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Brady in the third quarter valued at $975,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Brady by 2,366.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 825,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,452,000 after buying an additional 792,094 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Brady by 722.3% in the third quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 54,451 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,990,000 after buying an additional 47,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brady by 85.2% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 48,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,689,000 after buying an additional 22,529 shares in the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Brady from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $51.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brady from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th.

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.