Arizona State Retirement System Raises Stake in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Brady were worth $828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Brady in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Brady by 1,107.4% in the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 652 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Brady by 337.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brady during the first quarter worth about $66,000. 76.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Brady from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 7th.

Brady Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of BRC stock opened at $74.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.92. Brady Co. has a 1-year low of $51.35 and a 1-year high of $76.82.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. Brady had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 14.70%. The firm had revenue of $343.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Brady Co. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.98%.

Brady 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.