Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Invests $778,000 in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Brady Co. (NYSE:BRC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 11,009 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $778,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brady in the 1st quarter valued at $810,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brady in the 1st quarter valued at $3,267,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brady by 99,900.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Brady by 7,044.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 138,454 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $9,780,000 after acquiring an additional 136,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Brady by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 674,593 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $49,819,000 after acquiring an additional 26,769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.28% of the company's stock.

Brady Stock Down 2.3%

BRC stock traded down $1.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.90. 200,744 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 242,427. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 0.80. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $69.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Brady Co. has a 52 week low of $62.70 and a 52 week high of $77.68.

Brady (NYSE:BRC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22. The business had revenue of $382.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $386.61 million. Brady had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 19.79%. Brady's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brady Co. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brady Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Brady's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BRC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brady from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Sidoti upgraded shares of Brady to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

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.