Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BDC. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Belden by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Belden by 15.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Belden by 181.2% during the third quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 2,188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Belden during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Belden during the third quarter valued at approximately $225,000. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Belden Price Performance

Belden stock opened at $82.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.37. Belden Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.54 and a 52 week high of $99.13.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.34. The company 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 business’s revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Belden Inc. will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total transaction of $169,208.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on BDC shares. StockNews.com lowered Belden from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Belden from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Belden presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.25.

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.