Brady (NYSE:BRC) Downgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Brady (NYSE:BRC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Brady Stock Performance

NYSE BRC opened at $72.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.76. Brady has a 1-year low of $51.35 and a 1-year high of $76.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.42.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. Brady had a net margin of 14.22% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $343.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Brady will post 4.13 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 given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.98%.

Institutional Trading of Brady

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 2,520.6% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 465,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,441,000 after purchasing an additional 447,703 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Brady during the first quarter worth approximately $13,439,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 106,652 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 106,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Brady by 231.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 132,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,716,000 after purchasing an additional 92,228 shares during the period. 76.28% of the stock is currently 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.