Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BELFB. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Bel Fuse in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Bel Fuse from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $100.00.

Bel Fuse Stock Down 1.6 %

BELFB traded down $1.39 during trading on Thursday, hitting $84.68. The stock had a trading volume of 87,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 87,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 2.71 and a current ratio of 2.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28. Bel Fuse has a twelve month low of $49.45 and a twelve month high of $92.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.57.

Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The electronics maker reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($1.10). The company had revenue of $149.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $126.41 million. Bel Fuse had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 7.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bel Fuse will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Bel Fuse Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Bel Fuse's payout ratio is currently 8.56%.

Insider Activity

In other Bel Fuse news, VP Joseph Francis Berry sold 1,000 shares of Bel Fuse stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.30, for a total transaction of $80,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,246.90. The trade was a 11.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Bel Fuse

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Bel Fuse in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $148,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Bel Fuse by 10.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,197 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bel Fuse during the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Bel Fuse in the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Finally, Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bel Fuse in the 4th quarter valued at about $298,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.39% of the company's stock.

About Bel Fuse

Bel Fuse Inc designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits. The company's products are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries.