Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 45,206 Shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 658,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 45,206 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.38% of Brady worth $50,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BRC. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Brady by 39.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,658,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $203,753,000 after acquiring an additional 753,092 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,510,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,701,000 after purchasing an additional 24,786 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Brady by 23.5% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 560,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,631,000 after buying an additional 106,652 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in Brady by 27.1% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 555,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,590,000 after buying an additional 118,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Brady by 20.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 479,057 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,710,000 after buying an additional 82,438 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Brady news, CEO Russell Shaller sold 21,128 shares of Brady stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.30, for a total transaction of $1,590,938.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 102,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,691,895. The trade was a 17.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 9,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $737,014.79. This trade represents a 22.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Brady Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE BRC opened at $74.13 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.84. Brady Co. has a 12-month low of $56.09 and a 12-month high of $77.68.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 18th. The industrial products company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $377.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $365.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Brady’s payout ratio is 23.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.