Brady (NYSE:BRC) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Brady (NYSE:BRC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded shares of Brady to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Brady Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Brady stock opened at $69.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Brady has a 12-month low of $62.70 and a 12-month high of $77.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.45.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22. Brady had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 19.57%. The business had revenue of $382.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. Brady’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Brady will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.76%.

Institutional Trading of Brady

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRC. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Brady by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,733,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $275,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,885 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Brady by 196.6% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,614,375 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $114,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070,000 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brady in the fourth quarter worth $30,314,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Brady by 1,256.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 185,182 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,081,000 after acquiring an additional 171,535 shares during the period. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Brady by 194.8% in the second quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 208,461 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,169,000 after acquiring an additional 137,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

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.