Royce & Associates LP Boosts Stake in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC - Free Report) by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 555,792 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 118,557 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 1.17% of Brady worth $42,590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of BRC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brady in the first quarter valued at approximately $313,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 13,869 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 38,626 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brady by 0.6% in the first 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 period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Brady by 31.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,075 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Brady from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th.

Brady Trading Down 0.6 %

BRC stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.21. 172,292 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 271,674. Brady Co. has a 1-year low of $52.68 and a 1-year high of $77.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Brady (NYSE:BRC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Brady had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 14.70%. The business had revenue of $343.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $351.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brady Co. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. This is a boost from Brady's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Brady's payout ratio is presently 23.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brady news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 21,128 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total value of $1,590,938.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 102,150 shares in the company, valued at $7,691,895. This trade represents a 17.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Andrew Gorman sold 8,736 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.10, for a total value of $647,337.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 10,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $751,374. This represents a 46.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,262 shares of company stock worth $3,371,231. Company insiders own 15.60% of the company's stock.

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.