Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Sells 175 Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,173 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Belden were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in Belden by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Belden by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Belden by 7.4% in 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. raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Belden by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,831,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Belden news, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total transaction of $275,448.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,667,599.11. This represents a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.45, for a total value of $1,619,925.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,939,527.05. This trade represents a 11.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,228 shares of company stock valued at $2,147,892 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Belden in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $130.25.

Belden Stock Up 2.8 %

BDC stock opened at $110.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.88. Belden Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.90 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.89 and a beta of 1.08.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.24. Belden had a return on equity of 21.42% and a net margin of 8.06%. On average, research analysts expect that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.16%.

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.