Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 51,022 Shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC - Free Report) by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 183,041 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 51,022 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.38% of Brady worth $14,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brady by 65.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 663 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Brady by 337.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Brady by 36.1% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 962 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Brady in the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brady during the 2nd quarter valued at about $119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total transaction of $916,934.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 102,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,520,297.40. This represents a 10.87 % 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, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of Brady stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total value of $216,020.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,014.79. This represents a 22.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,262 shares of company stock valued at $3,371,231. 15.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brady Price Performance

Shares of BRC traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $70.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 274,020. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.12. Brady Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.99 and a fifty-two week 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $377.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.88 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Brady's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Brady's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.