Belden (NYSE:BDC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy” Rating

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Belden in a research report on Friday. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.75.

Belden Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BDC opened at $121.02 on Friday. Belden has a 1 year low of $72.91 and a 1 year high of $131.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $118.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.58. The company has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.09. Belden had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 20.55%. The business had revenue of $654.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Belden will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.65%.

Insider Activity at Belden

In other Belden news, CAO Doug Zink sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.82, for a total transaction of $386,460.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $855,751.26. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.59% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Belden

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BDC. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Belden in the 3rd quarter worth $608,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Belden during the third quarter worth about $687,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Belden by 157.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,801,000 after purchasing an additional 19,849 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Belden by 0.6% in the 3rd 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. boosted its stake in Belden by 25.3% in the 3rd 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 during the period. 98.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.