Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Shares Purchased by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Belden were worth $665,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Belden in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,167,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Belden by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 294,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,212,000 after purchasing an additional 111,952 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Belden by 6.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,574,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $184,532,000 after purchasing an additional 100,145 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Belden by 169.6% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 146,317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,477,000 after purchasing an additional 92,037 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in Belden by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 230,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,387,000 after buying an additional 69,365 shares during the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on BDC shares. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Belden in a report on Monday, February 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.25.

Insider Activity

In other Belden news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.45, for a total transaction of $1,619,925.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,939,527.05. This represents a 11.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total value 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 trade represents a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,428 shares of company stock worth $2,589,774 over the last 90 days. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Belden Stock Performance

NYSE:BDC opened at $89.46 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Belden Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.90 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 1.07.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its 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 net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.42%. Analysts expect that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.16%.

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.