Swiss National Bank Decreases Holdings in Belden Inc (NYSE:BDC)

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in shares of Belden Inc (NYSE:BDC) by 2.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Belden were worth $7,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Belden during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in Belden by 208.7% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 392 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Belden by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 446 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Belden during the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Belden during the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. 98.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BDC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Benchmark upped their price objective on Belden from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Belden in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Belden presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

Belden Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:BDC opened at $124.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48 and a beta of 1.28. Belden Inc has a one year low of $83.18 and a one year high of $132.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $119.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.24.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $671.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $654.82 million. Belden had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 8.60%. Belden’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Belden Inc will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian Edward Anderson sold 7,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.51, for a total value of $934,190.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 39,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,164,802.74. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.48% of the company’s stock.

Belden 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.