First Eagle Investment Management LLC Sells 5,000 Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,791 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.21% of Belden worth $9,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Belden by 14.8% during 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. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 worth $184,532,000 after purchasing an additional 100,145 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Belden by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,580,000 after purchasing an additional 5,727 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Belden by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 708,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,939,000 after purchasing an additional 68,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Belden by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 182,973 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,432,000 after acquiring an additional 23,936 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Belden Stock Performance

NYSE BDC opened at $101.55 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.77. Belden Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.90 and a 12-month high of $131.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 1.02.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.24. Belden had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.42%. Sell-side analysts predict that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is 4.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BDC shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Belden in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total value of $275,448.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,667,599.11. The trade was a 9.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory James Mccray sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.21, for a total transaction of $441,882.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,199 shares in the company, valued at $441,776.79. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,428 shares of company stock valued at $2,589,774 in the last three months. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Belden 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.