South Dakota Investment Council Boosts Stock Holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

South Dakota Investment Council grew its position in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC - Free Report) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,634 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.16% of Belden worth $4,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Belden by 3.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,301 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Belden by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,115 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Belden by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,589 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Belden by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,079 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in Belden by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 50,654 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,891,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BDC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Belden from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price target on Belden from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Belden has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $102.25.

Belden Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:BDC traded down $0.98 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $83.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 261,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 275,344. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $86.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 1.72. Belden Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.54 and a twelve month high of $99.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71 and a beta of 1.04.

Belden (NYSE:BDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $551.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $522.06 million. Belden had a return on equity of 25.11% and a net margin of 9.66%. The company's revenue was down 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Belden Inc. will post 5.33 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Belden's dividend payout ratio is currently 3.53%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total transaction of $169,208.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.42% 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.