Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Shares Acquired by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 49.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Belden were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the third quarter worth $608,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the third quarter worth $687,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Belden by 157.5% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,801,000 after purchasing an additional 19,849 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Belden by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,580,000 after purchasing an additional 5,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in shares of Belden by 25.3% during the third quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 38,675 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,530,000 after purchasing an additional 7,819 shares in the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BDC shares. StockNews.com raised Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital cut their target price on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Belden in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.25.

Insider Transactions at Belden

In other news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 directly owns 107,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,939,527.05. This represents a 11.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jonathan C. Klein sold 2,129 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $234,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,480. The trade was a 17.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,228 shares of company stock valued at $2,147,892 in the last ninety days. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Belden Price Performance

NYSE:BDC opened at $107.06 on Friday. Belden Inc. has a one year low of $80.90 and a one year high of $131.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $114.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.65.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.24. Belden had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.42%. Research analysts expect that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 0.19%. Belden’s payout ratio is 4.16%.

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.