Belden (NYSE:BDC) Reaches New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $115.00 to $120.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Belden traded as high as $109.00 and last traded at $108.83, with a volume of 139299 shares. The stock had previously closed at $106.29.

BDC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Belden from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Belden from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Vertical Research started coverage on shares of Belden in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Nancy E. Calderon sold 2,500 shares of Belden stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.98, for a total transaction of $239,950.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $667,444.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Nancy E. Calderon sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.98, for a total transaction of $239,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $667,444.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lieser sold 819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.26, for a total transaction of $74,741.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,031 shares in the company, valued at $1,919,289.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,137 shares of company stock worth $1,095,457. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Belden

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Belden by 198.4% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after buying an additional 8,169 shares during the period. Gendell Jeffrey L lifted its position in Belden by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L now owns 53,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 99,291 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,195,000 after purchasing an additional 7,340 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Belden by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 985,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,113,000 after buying an additional 149,263 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in shares of Belden by 1,724.8% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 104,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,651,000 after buying an additional 98,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.53.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.14. Belden had a return on equity of 21.13% and a net margin of 8.51%. The business had revenue of $604.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.32 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Belden Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 12th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.91%.

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.