Xponance Inc. Buys 247 Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Xponance Inc. grew its position in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,740 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Belden were worth $646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in Belden by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Belden by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $257,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Belden by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in Belden by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 835 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Belden by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BDC shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Belden in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jonathan C. Klein sold 2,129 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $234,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,968 shares in the company, valued at $1,096,480. This trade represents a 17.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Leah Tate sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.77, for a total value of $275,448.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,667,599.11. This trade represents a 9.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,428 shares of company stock worth $2,589,774. 1.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Belden Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BDC opened at $105.94 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $111.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.92. Belden Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.90 and a 52-week high of $131.82. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.02 and a beta of 1.02.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Belden Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.19%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.16%.

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.