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

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 522,000 shares, a decrease of 7.3% from the December 15th total of 562,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 259,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brady

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brady during the 4th quarter worth approximately $236,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Brady by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $770,000 after purchasing an additional 4,833 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Brady by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 94,174 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,945,000 after purchasing an additional 14,702 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brady by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of Brady by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 618,841 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,422,000 after buying an additional 17,682 shares during the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brady Stock Performance

NYSE BRC traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 436,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,799. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.83. Brady has a 12 month low of $56.09 and a 12 month high of $77.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 18th. The industrial products company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $377.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Brady’s payout ratio is 23.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded 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.