DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Reduces Stock Position in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its stake in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,743 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,465 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Belden were worth $1,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BDC. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Belden by 8.2% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,131 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Belden by 40.1% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 52,012 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,881,000 after purchasing an additional 14,895 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Belden in the first quarter worth approximately $961,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in Belden by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 16,455 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,569 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in Belden in the first quarter worth approximately $762,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Stock Down 2.8 %

BDC opened at $85.26 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Belden Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.54 and a 1-year high of $99.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.89.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $551.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $522.06 million. Belden had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 25.11%. The company’s revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Belden’s payout ratio is 3.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Truist Financial increased their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

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.