Insider Selling: Buckle (NYSE:BKE) Director Sells 8,500 Shares of Stock

Buckle, Inc. (The) (NYSE:BKE) Director Bill Fairfield sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.38, for a total transaction of $394,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 44,408 shares in the company, valued at $2,059,643.04. This represents a 16.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Buckle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BKE traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $46.25. The stock had a trading volume of 43,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 473,988. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.90. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 1.14. Buckle, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.44 and a twelve month high of $58.52.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 21st. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.06. Buckle had a return on equity of 46.91% and a net margin of 16.62%. The company had revenue of $319.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $319.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Buckle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. Buckle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Buckle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKE. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Buckle during the second quarter worth about $208,888,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Buckle by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,342,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,582,000 after purchasing an additional 30,128 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Buckle by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,167,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,808,000 after purchasing an additional 72,550 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Buckle in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,466,000. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Buckle by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC now owns 419,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,130,000 after purchasing an additional 19,459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Buckle in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Buckle from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

About Buckle

Buckle, Inc is a specialty retailer of casual apparel, footwear and accessories for young men and women. The company is particularly known for its selection of denim, along with tops, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, shoes, jewelry and other fashion accessories. Buckle sells merchandise under a combination of national brands and proprietary labels.

The company operates retail stores across the United States and also sells products through its e-commerce platform. Its stores generally offer personalized customer service, including denim fitting and tailoring, and are designed to provide a lifestyle-oriented shopping experience.