South Dakota Investment Council Grows Position in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,000 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Belden were worth $4,993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 255,593 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,745,000 after acquiring an additional 47,532 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 67,922 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,247,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 62,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,862,000 after acquiring an additional 19,558 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 29,761 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 17,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 5,640 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Stock Down 1.5 %

BDC traded down $1.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $82.95. The stock had a trading volume of 132,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 273,412. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $86.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 1.04. Belden Inc. has a one year low of $60.54 and a one year high of $99.13.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last released its earnings results 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. Belden had a return on equity of 25.11% and a net margin of 9.66%. The firm had revenue of $551.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $522.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Belden Inc. will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Belden Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Belden

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BDC. StockNews.com downgraded Belden from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Belden from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.25.

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.