River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 244,291 Shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

River Road Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC) by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 244,291 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.29% of Brady worth $10,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brady by 65.3% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 663 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Brady by 337.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in Brady by 36.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brady during the first quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brady during the second quarter valued at approximately $119,000. 76.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Brady

In other Brady news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total value of $216,020.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $737,014.79. The trade was 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 the SEC website. In other Brady news, COO Thomas F. Debruine sold 2,851 shares of Brady stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.77, for a total value of $216,020.27. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $737,014.79. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $647,337.60. Following 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. Insiders have sold a total of 45,262 shares of company stock valued at $3,371,231 over the last quarter. 15.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Brady Stock Performance

BRC stock opened at $72.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.69. Brady Co. has a 1-year low of $52.68 and a 1-year high of $76.97. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $73.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.76.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, September 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.08. The firm 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 company’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brady Co. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brady Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Brady’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Brady’s dividend payout ratio is 23.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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.