Belden’s (BDC) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

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

Several other brokerages also recently commented on BDC. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Belden presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.44. Belden has a 1 year low of $78.64 and a 1 year high of $131.82.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Belden will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Belden

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Belden during the third quarter worth $608,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake 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 buying an additional 19,849 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 5,727 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 7,819 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.