Belden’s (BDC) Buy Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Belden (NYSE:BDC) in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $100.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Belden from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised Belden from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $102.40.

Belden Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BDC opened at $91.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $87.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 1.07. Belden has a 1 year low of $60.54 and a 1 year high of $99.13.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $536.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.27 million. Belden had a return on equity of 23.11% and a net margin of 9.01%. The business’s revenue was down 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Belden will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total value of $169,208.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Belden

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BDC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,714,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $455,156,000 after buying an additional 92,544 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,383,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $128,148,000 after buying an additional 30,268 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 1,365.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,026,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,075,000 after buying an additional 956,136 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 985,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,113,000 after buying an additional 149,263 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 919,066 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,998,000 after buying an additional 209,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

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.