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

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) saw a large growth in short interest in 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 daily trading volume, of 257,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Belden news, CAO Doug Zink sold 1,324 shares of Belden stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.49, for a total transaction of $155,556.76. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Belden

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BDC. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Belden during the third quarter worth $608,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Belden in the third quarter worth about $687,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Belden by 157.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,801,000 after acquiring an additional 19,849 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Belden by 0.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 960,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $112,580,000 after purchasing an additional 5,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in Belden by 25.3% in the third quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 38,675 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,530,000 after buying an additional 7,819 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Belden Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BDC traded up $0.46 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $112.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 303,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,171. Belden has a fifty-two week low of $71.20 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $119.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19 and a beta of 1.08.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.09. Belden had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 20.55%. The business had revenue of $654.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. Belden’s payout ratio is 4.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on BDC shares. Benchmark increased their price target on Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.