Short Interest in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Increases By 6.7%

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) saw a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 960,300 shares, a growth of 6.7% from the October 15th total of 899,600 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 270,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Insider Transactions at Belden

In other Belden news, CAO Doug Zink sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.82, for a total value of $386,460.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $855,751.26. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Belden by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,486,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $525,485,000 after purchasing an additional 576,768 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Belden during the 2nd quarter valued at $12,659,000. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Belden during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,814,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Belden by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,574,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $184,532,000 after purchasing an additional 100,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in Belden by 1,724.8% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 104,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,651,000 after purchasing an additional 98,503 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BDC stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 39,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 270,241. The company has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54 and a beta of 1.07. Belden has a 52 week low of $65.52 and a 52 week high of $131.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $643.63 million. Belden had a return on equity of 20.55% and a net margin of 7.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Belden will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 12th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.