Belden’s (BDC) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Belden (NYSE:BDC) in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Benchmark currently has a $130.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on BDC. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $130.25.

Belden Stock Performance

NYSE:BDC opened at $112.65 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.44. Belden has a 12 month low of $78.64 and a 12 month high of $131.82.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.24. Belden had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.42%. Analysts expect that Belden will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 12th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.16%.

Insider Activity at Belden

In related news, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total transaction of $275,448.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,667,599.11. This trade represents a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Belden by 72.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Belden in the third quarter worth about $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in Belden by 97.7% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Belden by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 835 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in Belden by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Belden Company Profile

Belden Inc designs, manufactures, and markets a portfolio of signal transmission solutions for mission critical applications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates in two segments, Enterprise Solutions and Industrial Automation Solutions. The Enterprise Solutions segment offers copper cable and connectivity solutions, fiber cable and connectivity solutions, interconnect panels, racks and enclosures, and signal extension and matrix switching systems for use in applications, such as local area networks, data centers, access control, 5G, fiber to the home, and building automation.