Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Short Interest Update

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 446,300 shares, a growth of 29.2% from the October 31st total of 345,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 262,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brady news, General Counsel Andrew Gorman sold 8,736 shares of Brady stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.10, for a total transaction of $647,337.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 10,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $751,374. The trade was a 46.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Shaller sold 21,128 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total transaction of $1,590,938.40. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,262 shares of company stock valued at $3,371,231 in the last three months. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRC. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Brady by 13.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 24,931 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,910,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 7.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 658,093 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $50,445,000 after purchasing an additional 45,206 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 535.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 23,733 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,818,000 after purchasing an additional 19,998 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 21.5% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,314 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Brady during the third quarter valued at approximately $216,000. 76.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Brady Price Performance

Shares of BRC traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $75.38. 229,267 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 275,182. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.23 and a 200-day moving average of $70.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33 and a beta of 0.76. Brady has a one year low of $55.97 and a one year high of $77.68.

Brady (NYSE:BRC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 18th. The industrial products company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $377.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $365.88 million. Brady had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 19.79%. Brady's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from Brady's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Brady's dividend payout ratio is 23.59%.

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.