Belden (NYSE:BDC) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Belden (NYSE:BDC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday morning.

Separately, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Belden from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Belden currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $102.25.

Belden Price Performance

BDC opened at $82.89 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.30. Belden has a 1 year low of $60.54 and a 1 year high of $99.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.34. Belden had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 25.11%. The business had revenue of $551.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $522.06 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Belden will post 5.33 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Belden

In other Belden news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of Belden stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total transaction of $169,208.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BDC. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Belden during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Belden by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 829 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the fourth quarter worth $72,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Belden by 326.0% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 818 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Belden by 33,500.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,005 shares in the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.