Belden (NYSE:BDC) Earns "Buy" Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Belden (NYSE:BDC - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $120.00 price objective on the industrial products company's stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Belden from $139.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Belden from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Belden currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.20.

Belden Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of BDC traded up $1.58 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $105.11. 255,788 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 275,062. Belden has a fifty-two week low of $83.18 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $99.78 and a 200-day moving average of $111.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Belden (NYSE:BDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.12. Belden had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $624.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $615.81 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Belden will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Belden's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregory James Mccray sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.21, for a total transaction of $441,882.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,776.79. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total value of $275,448.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares in the company, valued at $2,667,599.11. The trade was a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,428 shares of company stock worth $2,589,774. Corporate insiders own 1.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Belden in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Belden in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Belden by 208.7% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 392 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Belden by 34.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 446 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Belden in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. 98.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.