The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Belden (NYSE:BDC) Price Target to $120.00

Belden (NYSE:BDC) had its target price reduced by The Goldman Sachs Group from $139.00 to $120.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

BDC has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com downgraded Belden from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Belden in a report on Monday, February 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Belden presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.20.

Belden Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BDC opened at $92.00 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $105.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.85. Belden has a fifty-two week low of $80.90 and a fifty-two week high of $131.82.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Belden will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $2,667,599.11. This trade represents a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregory James Mccray sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.21, for a total value of $441,882.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,776.79. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,428 shares of company stock valued at $2,589,774. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Belden

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Belden by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,411 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 1,497 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Belden by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,428 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 6.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,574,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $184,532,000 after purchasing an additional 100,145 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC increased its holdings in Belden by 135.2% during the third quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 6,894 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Belden by 189.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 80,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,386,000 after buying an additional 52,439 shares in the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.