O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Acquires 982 Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,796 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 982 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Belden were worth $878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BDC. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Belden by 138.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Belden by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 71,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,102,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in Belden in the 4th quarter worth $986,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Belden by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Belden during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,167,000. 98.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Belden

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BDC. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Belden in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital decreased 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.25.

Belden Price Performance

Shares of BDC opened at $89.46 on Tuesday. Belden Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.90 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts anticipate that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Belden’s payout ratio is 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.