Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stock Holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its position in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,894 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Belden were worth $3,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Belden by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Belden in the second quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Belden by 13.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,297 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Belden during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,119,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Belden in the second quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BDC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.75.

Insider Activity at Belden

In related news, CAO Doug Zink sold 1,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.49, for a total value of $155,556.76. Following the completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Belden Stock Performance

Shares of Belden stock opened at $117.35 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $118.59 and a 200 day moving average of $110.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Belden Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.09 and a 12 month high of $131.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29 and a beta of 1.09.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.09. Belden had a return on equity of 20.55% and a net margin of 7.61%. The company had revenue of $654.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. Belden’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Belden Inc. will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Belden Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.65%.

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.