Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Purchases Shares of 222,968 Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 222,968 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $2,511,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC owned about 0.55% of Belden at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BDC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Belden in the 4th quarter valued at $54,167,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Belden by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,710,224 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $530,418,000 after acquiring an additional 223,887 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Belden by 234.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 224,363 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $25,266,000 after acquiring an additional 157,335 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Belden by 380.3% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 166,354 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $18,726,000 after acquiring an additional 131,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Belden by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 294,925 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $33,212,000 after acquiring an additional 111,952 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jonathan C. Klein sold 2,129 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $234,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,968 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,480. This represents a 17.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Leah Tate sold 231 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $26,250.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,428,518.80. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,259 shares of company stock worth $2,340,577. Company insiders own 1.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BDC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Belden from $139.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Belden in a research report on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Belden from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Belden presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.20.

Belden Price Performance

NYSE:BDC traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $112.47. 206,111 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 276,185. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock's 50-day moving average is $100.80 and its 200-day moving average is $111.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38 and a beta of 1.24. Belden Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.18 and a twelve month high of $131.82.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $624.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $615.81 million. Belden had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given 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 was Thursday, March 13th. Belden's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.86%.

Belden 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.