Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC – Get Rating) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 285,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,880 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Brady were worth $13,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BRC. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brady by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 52,649 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,436,000 after acquiring an additional 10,272 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Brady by 55.7% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 26,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,208,000 after buying an additional 9,339 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Brady by 0.8% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 136,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,293,000 after buying an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of Brady by 13.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 41,633 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,926,000 after buying an additional 4,955 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Brady by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,332,099 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $246,716,000 after buying an additional 17,763 shares during the period. 77.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Brady

In other Brady news, Director Elizabeth P. Bruno sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.02, for a total value of $459,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 359,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,394,206.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Brady in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company.

Brady Stock Performance

Shares of Brady stock opened at $49.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Brady Co. has a 12 month low of $40.52 and a 12 month high of $56.35.

Brady (NYSE:BRC – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $326.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $319.39 million. Brady had a return on equity of 18.40% and a net margin of 12.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brady Co. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Brady’s payout ratio is 27.71%.

About Brady

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Brady Corp. engages in the manufacture and market of specialty materials and identification solutions that determines and protects premises, products, and people. The firm operates through the Identification Solutions (IDS) and Workplace Safety (WPS) segments. The IDS segment offers industrial and healthcare identification products.