HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,841 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Brady were worth $862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BRC. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 753,092 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $12,235,000 after purchasing an additional 146,601 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brady by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 450,148 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,243,000 after purchasing an additional 59,752 shares in the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Brady by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 123,196 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,098,000 after buying an additional 59,666 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Brady by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 658,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,445,000 after buying an additional 45,206 shares in the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brady Stock Performance

NYSE:BRC opened at $71.64 on Friday. Brady Co. has a 52 week low of $57.89 and a 52 week high of $77.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.71. 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 company has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 0.72.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.03 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $356.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.21 million. Brady had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 14.19%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Brady’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.00%.

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.