Brady (NYSE:BRC) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Brady (NYSE:BRC) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded Brady to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th.

Brady Price Performance

BRC opened at $67.90 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 0.80. Brady has a 1 year low of $62.70 and a 1 year high of $77.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.99.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22. The firm had revenue of $382.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.61 million. Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brady

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Brady by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 450,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,243,000 after buying an additional 59,752 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC bought a new position in shares of Brady in the fourth quarter worth about $224,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Brady by 192.0% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 3,831 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brady in the fourth quarter worth about $1,865,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Brady by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 686,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,729,000 after purchasing an additional 60,737 shares during the period. 76.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.