Brady (NYSE:BRC) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Brady (NYSE:BRC) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Brady from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Sidoti upgraded shares of Brady from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $103.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.00.

Brady Stock Performance

Brady stock opened at $85.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 0.61. Brady has a fifty-two week low of $70.57 and a fifty-two week high of $99.29.

Brady (NYSE:BRC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The industrial products company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $436.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.91 million. Brady had a return on equity of 19.21% and a net margin of 12.36%.The business’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. Brady has set its FY 2027 guidance at 6.250-6.750 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Brady will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas DeBruine sold 5,739 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.00, for a total value of $482,076.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $631,932. This represents a 43.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brady

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Brady by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,668,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,511,000 after acquiring an additional 47,096 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Brady by 267.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,188,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,118,000 after purchasing an additional 865,131 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brady by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 242,338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,992,000 after purchasing an additional 17,089 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brady by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Brady by 0.5% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 86,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 76.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brady Company Profile

Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) is a global manufacturer of identification, workplace safety and compliance solutions. The company develops products that help organizations identify equipment, components, facilities and hazards while supporting safety, productivity and regulatory compliance across industrial, commercial and public-sector environments.

Its product portfolio includes industrial and safety labels, signs, tags, pipe markers, lockout/tagout products, wire and cable identification materials, barcode and RFID systems, identification printers, software and related supplies.