Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on BELFB. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Bel Fuse from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Northland Securities lowered Bel Fuse from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Bel Fuse Stock Performance

Bel Fuse stock opened at $61.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $778.36 million, a P/E ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 2.70. Bel Fuse has a fifty-two week low of $39.13 and a fifty-two week high of $74.75.

Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The electronics maker reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.07). Bel Fuse had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 12.62%. The company had revenue of $140.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.86 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bel Fuse will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Bel Fuse Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 12th. Bel Fuse’s payout ratio is currently 4.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vincent Vellucci sold 1,000 shares of Bel Fuse stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.70, for a total transaction of $56,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,126.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bel Fuse

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bel Fuse by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 676,723 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $32,293,000 after purchasing an additional 30,752 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Bel Fuse by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 249,900 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $16,686,000 after acquiring an additional 34,100 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Bel Fuse during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,537,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Bel Fuse during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,377,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Bel Fuse by 29.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 169,920 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $8,109,000 after purchasing an additional 39,046 shares during the period. 58.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bel Fuse

Bel Fuse Inc designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries in the United States, the People's Republic of China, Macao, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Germany, India, Switzerland, and internationally.