Brady (NYSE:BRC) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $74.21, but opened at $70.65. Brady shares last traded at $69.85, with a volume of 71,289 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Brady Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.27.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 18th. The industrial products company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Brady had a return on equity of 19.84% and a net margin of 14.70%. The firm had revenue of $377.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.24 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Brady’s payout ratio is presently 23.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 21,128 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total value of $1,590,938.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 102,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,691,895. This trade represents a 17.14 % 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. Also, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total transaction of $216,020.27. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $737,014.79. This represents a 22.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,262 shares of company stock worth $3,371,231 over the last 90 days. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brady

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Brady by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,658,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $203,753,000 after purchasing an additional 753,092 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Brady during the first quarter valued at approximately $13,439,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Brady by 143.1% during 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 buying an additional 157,149 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Brady by 1,121.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 159,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,235,000 after acquiring an additional 146,601 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 118,557 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.