Belden (NYSE:BDC) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Belden (NYSE:BDC) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on BDC. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.75.

Belden Stock Down 1.2 %

Belden stock opened at $117.35 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $118.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29 and a beta of 1.09. Belden has a 52 week low of $72.09 and a 52 week high of $131.82.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $654.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.63 million. Belden had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 20.55%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Belden will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Doug Zink sold 1,324 shares of Belden stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.49, for a total value of $155,556.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,132,956.07. The trade was a 12.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BDC. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Belden by 14.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,486,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $525,485,000 after buying an additional 576,768 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in Belden during the third quarter worth about $11,814,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Belden by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,574,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $184,532,000 after acquiring an additional 100,145 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Belden during the 3rd quarter valued at about $82,320,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Belden by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 708,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $82,939,000 after acquiring an additional 68,151 shares during the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Belden

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.