Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 55,957 Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 55,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,301,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Belden by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Belden by 97.7% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Belden by 30.8% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,595 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,827,000 after purchasing an additional 3,669 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Belden by 157.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,801,000 after purchasing an additional 19,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Belden by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,759 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,494,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on BDC. 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 target on Belden from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Belden from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.25.

Belden Trading Up 3.6 %

NYSE BDC opened at $105.42 on Tuesday. Belden Inc. has a one year low of $80.90 and a one year 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 capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.85.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Belden’s payout ratio is 4.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 14,535 shares of Belden stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 107,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,939,527.05. The trade was a 11.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jonathan C. Klein sold 2,129 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $234,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,096,480. The trade was a 17.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,428 shares of company stock worth $2,589,774 in the last three months. 1.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.