Brady (NYSE:BRC) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $77.60 and last traded at $77.36, with a volume of 3300 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $76.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut Brady from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th.

Brady Trading Down 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.08. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This is an increase from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Brady’s payout ratio is presently 23.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Brady news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total value of $216,020.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,014.79. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total value of $216,020.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $737,014.79. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total value of $916,934.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 102,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,520,297.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,262 shares of company stock worth $3,371,231. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRC. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Brady in the 1st quarter valued at $13,439,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Brady by 143.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,459,000 after acquiring an additional 157,149 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in Brady by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 555,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,590,000 after purchasing an additional 118,557 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Brady by 23.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.