Short Interest in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Increases By 22.8%

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the November 30th total of 871,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 257,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Belden news, CAO Doug Zink sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.82, for a total transaction of $386,460.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Belden

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BDC. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Belden by 72.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Belden by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Belden by 97.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Belden in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.75.

Belden Stock Down 0.2 %

Belden stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $111.90. The stock had a trading volume of 98,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 267,313. Belden has a 52-week low of $71.20 and a 52-week high of $131.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $119.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.59. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02 and a beta of 1.08.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Belden will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.65%.

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.