Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $12.61 Million Stock Holdings in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) by 29.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 107,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 44,818 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Belden worth $12,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Belden during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Belden during the second quarter worth $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Belden by 72.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Belden in the second quarter valued at $95,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Belden by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Vertical Research initiated coverage on shares of Belden in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Belden from $124.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on Belden from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.75.

Insider Transactions at Belden

In other Belden news, CAO Doug Zink sold 3,000 shares of Belden stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.82, for a total value of $386,460.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,643 shares in the company, valued at $855,751.26. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Belden Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of BDC stock opened at $118.61 on Friday. Belden Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.52 and a 12-month high of $131.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $115.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.58 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 12th. Belden’s payout ratio is presently 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.