Belden (NYSE:BDC) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $81.32, but opened at $88.31. Belden shares last traded at $88.01, with a volume of 46,501 shares trading hands.

The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $536.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.27 million. Belden had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 25.11%. The business’s revenue was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. Belden’s payout ratio is currently 3.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Belden from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Belden from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total transaction of $169,208.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,772 shares in the company, valued at $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Belden

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Belden by 1,365.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,026,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $99,075,000 after purchasing an additional 956,136 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Belden during the fourth quarter valued at $35,403,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in Belden by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 914,924 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $70,678,000 after buying an additional 224,486 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Belden by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 919,066 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,998,000 after buying an additional 209,052 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Belden by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 985,282 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,113,000 after buying an additional 149,263 shares during the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Belden Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $87.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.22. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 2.30.

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.