Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 159 Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 159 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Belden were worth $1,387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BDC. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Belden in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Belden by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 835 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Belden by 624.8% in the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 1,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 1,312 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Belden news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of Belden stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 107,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,939,527.05. The trade was a 11.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total transaction of $275,448.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,667,599.11. This represents a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,428 shares of company stock valued at $2,589,774 in the last 90 days. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Belden Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Belden stock opened at $93.58 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.27. 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.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BDC shares. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com lowered Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Belden from $139.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Belden in a report on Monday, February 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.20.

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.