State of Wyoming Acquires 1,497 Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 102.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,497 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Belden were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BDC. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Belden by 189.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 80,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,386,000 after purchasing an additional 52,439 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Belden by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,831,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Belden by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,197 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Belden by 1,796.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 23,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,693,000 after acquiring an additional 22,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Belden by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,973 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on BDC shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Belden in a report on Monday, May 5th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com cut Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Belden from $139.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Belden has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $126.20.

Belden Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of BDC opened at $109.31 on Thursday. Belden Inc. has a 1 year low of $83.18 and a 1 year high of $131.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.98. The stock has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73 and a beta of 1.24.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.12. Belden had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $624.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $615.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Belden’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.18%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Leah Tate sold 231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $26,250.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,170 shares in the company, valued at $3,428,518.80. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.45, for a total value of $1,619,925.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,939,527.05. This trade represents a 11.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,259 shares of company stock worth $2,340,577 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.48% 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.