Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Short Interest Down 17.9% in February

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 895,300 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the February 13th total of 1,090,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 273,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Belden

In other news, Director Jonathan C. Klein sold 2,129 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $234,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,480. This represents a 17.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregory James Mccray sold 4,200 shares of Belden stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.21, for a total transaction of $441,882.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,776.79. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,428 shares of company stock worth $2,589,774. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Belden

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Belden by 14.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,486,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $525,485,000 after buying an additional 576,768 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Belden in the 4th quarter valued at $54,167,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Belden in the 4th quarter worth $2,511,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Belden by 234.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 224,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,266,000 after acquiring an additional 157,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Belden by 380.3% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 166,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,726,000 after purchasing an additional 131,719 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:BDC traded up $2.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $106.58. The stock had a trading volume of 229,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,569. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $112.16 and a 200 day moving average of $114.82. The company has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 1.02. Belden has a one year low of $80.90 and a one year high of $131.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Belden Dividend Announcement

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

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.