Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.32 Million in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 22,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Brady by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,373,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $224,227,000 after purchasing an additional 409,452 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brady by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,332,099 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $246,716,000 after buying an additional 17,763 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Brady by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,009,621 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,934,000 after buying an additional 148,426 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Brady by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,418,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,227,000 after buying an additional 8,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brady by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,252,062 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,763,000 after buying an additional 198,805 shares during the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Brady Stock Down 0.3 %

BRC stock opened at $58.65 on Monday. Brady Co. has a twelve month low of $46.77 and a twelve 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.09 and its 200-day moving average is $57.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.77.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.01. Brady had a return on equity of 19.24% and a net margin of 14.08%. The company had revenue of $322.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $339.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Brady Co. will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Elizabeth P. Bruno sold 8,322 shares of Brady stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $477,100.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 333,593 shares in the company, valued at $19,124,886.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Elizabeth P. Bruno sold 8,322 shares of Brady stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $477,100.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 333,593 shares in the company, valued at $19,124,886.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Elizabeth P. Bruno sold 2,415 shares of Brady stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $144,924.15. Following the sale, the director now owns 326,178 shares in the company, valued at $19,573,941.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,017 shares of company stock worth $2,283,667. 15.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brady 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.