Bridgewater Associates LP Decreases Position in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its holdings in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC - Free Report) by 87.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,958 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 43,447 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in Brady were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mariner LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brady in the 4th quarter worth about $224,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in Brady by 6,379.9% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 544,375 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $40,202,000 after buying an additional 535,974 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Brady by 4,591.4% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,521 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 6,382 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Brady during the 4th quarter valued at $1,865,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Brady by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,152,340 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $85,100,000 after acquiring an additional 22,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.28% of the company's stock.

Brady Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of BRC traded up $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $69.14. 83,548 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 248,034. Brady Co. has a 52 week low of $58.32 and a 52 week high of $77.68. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.75. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $356.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $359.21 million. Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brady Co. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. Brady's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.00%.

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.