Belden Inc (NYSE:BDC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Belden Inc (NYSE:BDC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $128.20.

BDC has been the topic of several research reports. Benchmark upped their price target on Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Belden in a report on Friday, July 11th.

Belden Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BDC opened at $127.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Belden has a 12 month low of $83.18 and a 12 month high of $131.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $113.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.28.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $624.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $615.81 million. Belden had a return on equity of 22.28% and a net margin of 8.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Belden will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 12th. Belden’s payout ratio is 3.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Belden

In other news, SVP Leah Tate sold 231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $26,250.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian Edward Anderson sold 7,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.51, for a total value of $934,190.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 39,574 shares in the company, valued at $5,164,802.74. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Belden

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 5.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Belden by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,043,510 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,478,000 after acquiring an additional 7,683 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Belden by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,024,497 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $102,706,000 after acquiring an additional 277,782 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Belden by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 821,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,319,000 after acquiring an additional 125,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in Belden by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 711,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,154,000 after acquiring an additional 3,692 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% 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.