Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

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

Brady Price Performance

Brady stock opened at $72.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 0.72. Brady has a 12-month low of $56.94 and a 12-month high of $77.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.78. 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) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.03). Brady had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 19.79%. The business had revenue of $356.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.21 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Brady Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Brady’s payout ratio is 24.00%.

Institutional Trading of Brady

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in Brady by 59.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Brady in the third quarter worth approximately $645,000. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brady during the 3rd quarter worth $792,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Brady by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 183,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,026,000 after purchasing an additional 51,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brady by 1,932.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 36,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,812,000 after buying an additional 34,886 shares during the period. 76.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.