Bel Fuse Inc. (NASDAQ:BELFB) Short Interest Update

Bel Fuse Inc. (NASDAQ:BELFB) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 390,900 shares, an increase of 19.9% from the January 31st total of 325,900 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 76,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bel Fuse

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BELFB. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Bel Fuse by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 398,123 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $32,821,000 after purchasing an additional 141,951 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Bel Fuse by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 351,755 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $29,009,000 after purchasing an additional 33,768 shares during the period. Advisory Research Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bel Fuse by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 313,446 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $25,850,000 after buying an additional 67,460 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bel Fuse by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 292,020 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $24,088,000 after acquiring an additional 2,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Portolan Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bel Fuse by 72.5% in the fourth quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 208,470 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $17,193,000 after acquiring an additional 87,612 shares during the period. 58.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BELFB. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bel Fuse from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Bel Fuse in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Bel Fuse from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $100.00.

Bel Fuse Stock Down 0.6 %

BELFB stock traded down $0.49 during trading on Thursday, reaching $79.52. The stock had a trading volume of 10,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 88,340. The company has a market capitalization of $997.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 2.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day moving average is $81.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.55. Bel Fuse has a one year low of $53.74 and a one year high of $92.61.

Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The electronics maker reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($1.10). Bel Fuse had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $149.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $126.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bel Fuse will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Bel Fuse Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Bel Fuse’s payout ratio is currently 8.56%.

About Bel Fuse

Bel Fuse Inc designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits. The company’s products are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries.