Inspire Investing LLC Raises Stock Position in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,842 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC owned about 0.08% of Brady worth $2,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRC. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Brady in the 1st quarter valued at about $13,439,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Brady by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 560,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,631,000 after buying an additional 106,652 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its position in Brady by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 610,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,190,000 after buying an additional 106,219 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Brady by 1,135.8% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 65,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,305,000 after buying an additional 59,934 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Brady by 73.0% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 140,954 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,273,000 after purchasing an additional 59,488 shares in the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brady from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brady news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total value of $916,934.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 102,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,520,297.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Brady Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE BRC opened at $73.65 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $71.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.20. Brady Co. has a 52 week low of $51.35 and a 52 week 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $343.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.74 million. Brady had a net margin of 14.70% and a return on equity of 19.84%. Brady’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brady Co. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.49%.

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.