StockNews.com Downgrades Belden (NYSE:BDC) to Buy

Belden (NYSE:BDC - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

BDC has been the topic of several other research reports. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Belden in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Belden from $139.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $126.20.

Belden Stock Up 1.7%

BDC stock opened at $114.24 on Wednesday. Belden has a fifty-two week low of $83.18 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82. The business's 50-day moving average is $100.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75 and a beta of 1.24.

Belden (NYSE:BDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.60 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $615.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Belden will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Belden news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of Belden stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.45, for a total transaction of $1,619,925.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,939,527.05. The trade was a 11.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory James Mccray sold 4,200 shares of Belden stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,776.79. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,028 shares of company stock valued at $2,314,326 in the last quarter. 1.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BDC. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,710,224 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $530,418,000 after purchasing an additional 223,887 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 0.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,043,510 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $105,478,000 after purchasing an additional 7,683 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 37.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,024,497 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $102,706,000 after purchasing an additional 277,782 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 711,784 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $80,154,000 after purchasing an additional 3,692 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 695,396 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $78,309,000 after purchasing an additional 18,825 shares during the period. 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.

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