Short Interest in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Rises By 24.0%

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 587,900 shares, an increase of 24.0% from the February 13th total of 474,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 274,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Brady Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BRC opened at $72.07 on Tuesday. 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 has a twelve month low of $56.81 and a twelve month high of $77.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.81. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 0.72.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last released its quarterly 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). Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. The company had revenue of $356.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.21 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Brady will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Brady Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.00%.

Institutional Trading of Brady

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRC. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in Brady by 59.3% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Brady during the third quarter valued at $645,000. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brady during the third quarter valued at $792,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 38.6% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 183,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,026,000 after acquiring an additional 51,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 1,932.7% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 36,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,812,000 after acquiring an additional 34,886 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

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.