Fort L.P. Makes New $220,000 Investment in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Fort L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,872 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BRC. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Brady during the first quarter worth approximately $13,439,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in 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 valued at $20,459,000 after purchasing an additional 157,149 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Brady by 23.5% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 560,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,631,000 after purchasing an additional 106,652 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in Brady by 21.1% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 610,505 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,190,000 after purchasing an additional 106,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Brady by 231.8% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 132,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,716,000 after purchasing an additional 92,228 shares in the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.08, for a total transaction of $916,934.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 102,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,520,297.40. This represents 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 this hyperlink. In other Brady news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 12,547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were 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 owns 102,905 shares in the company, valued at $7,520,297.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Andrew Gorman sold 8,736 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.10, for a total transaction of $647,337.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 10,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $751,374. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,262 shares of company stock worth $3,371,231. 15.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Brady Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Brady stock traded up $0.31 on Friday, hitting $71.45. The company had a trading volume of 250,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 276,068. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.76. Brady Co. has a twelve month low of $51.76 and a twelve month high of $76.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.00 and a 200-day moving average of $68.71.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $343.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.74 million. Brady had a net margin of 14.70% and a return on equity of 19.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.59%.

Brady 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.