Belden (NYSE:BDC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Belden (NYSE:BDC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

BDC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Belden in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Belden has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $130.25.

Belden Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BDC opened at $112.65 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.42 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Belden has a 1 year low of $78.64 and a 1 year high of $131.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $116.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.44.

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

Belden Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Belden

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Belden by 9.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Belden by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Belden by 72.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Belden by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Belden by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Belden

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.