Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Short Interest Update

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 895,300 shares, a decline of 17.9% from the February 13th total of 1,090,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 273,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BDC shares. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Belden in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.25.

Belden Stock Performance

Shares of BDC traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $103.76. The stock had a trading volume of 239,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,795. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $112.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 1.02. Belden has a fifty-two week low of $80.90 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.24. Belden had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.42%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Belden will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Belden’s payout ratio is currently 4.16%.

Insider Transactions at Belden

In other news, Director Jonathan C. Klein sold 2,129 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $234,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,096,480. This represents a 17.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total transaction of $275,448.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares in the company, valued at $2,667,599.11. This trade represents a 9.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,428 shares of company stock worth $2,589,774 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Belden in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Belden by 208.7% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 392 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Belden by 97.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Belden during the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.