6,457 Shares in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) Bought by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Belden during the fourth quarter worth $904,000. AlphaQ Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Belden in the fourth quarter valued at about $230,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in Belden by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 186,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,424,000 after acquiring an additional 27,600 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Belden by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 66,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,142,000 after acquiring an additional 2,936 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Advisors grew its stake in Belden by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 3,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares during the period. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Belden from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Lieser sold 2,056 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.30, for a total transaction of $169,208.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,791,835.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Belden Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BDC opened at $84.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Belden Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.54 and a 1-year high of $99.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $86.86 and its 200-day moving average is $78.73.

Belden (NYSE:BDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $551.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $522.06 million. Belden had a return on equity of 25.11% and a net margin of 9.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.75 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Belden Inc. will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Belden Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Belden’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.53%.

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.