Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Short Interest Down 8.4% in March

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 989,500 shares, a decline of 8.4% from the March 15th total of 1,080,000 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 284,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Insider Activity at Belden

In other Belden news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total value of $169,208.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,772 shares in the company, valued at $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Belden

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BDC. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Belden by 88.0% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the first quarter worth about $32,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the second quarter worth about $36,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Belden by 287.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in Belden by 153.6% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Belden from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.25.

Belden Price Performance

BDC stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $84.79. The stock had a trading volume of 171,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 280,617. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.81. 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 cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98 and a beta of 1.04. Belden has a 52-week low of $60.54 and a 52-week high of $99.13.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $551.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $522.06 million. Belden had a return on equity of 25.11% and a net margin of 9.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Belden will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

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

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.