Belden (NYSE:BDC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $128.28 and last traded at $127.82, with a volume of 38938 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $118.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on BDC. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark upped their target price on Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Vertical Research started coverage on Belden in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Belden presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.75.

Belden Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 27.55 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $654.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.63 million. Belden had a return on equity of 20.55% and a net margin of 7.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Belden Inc. will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 12th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian Edward Anderson sold 6,556 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.46, for a total transaction of $658,615.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,298,001.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Brian Edward Anderson sold 6,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.46, for a total transaction of $658,615.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,829 shares in the company, valued at $3,298,001.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Doug Zink sold 1,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.49, for a total value of $155,556.76. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,132,956.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,142 shares of company stock valued at $936,322. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Belden

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Belden by 11.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 105,684 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,787,000 after purchasing an additional 11,010 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Belden by 9.4% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 29,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,713,000 after purchasing an additional 2,507 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in Belden by 662.2% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in Belden by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 36,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,378,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Belden by 34.9% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,303 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,325,000 after purchasing an additional 3,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Company 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.