State Street Corp Increases Holdings in The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE)

State Street Corp boosted its position in The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,338,395 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 72,532 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 2.64% of Buckle worth $58,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Buckle by 52.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Buckle by 60.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Buckle during the third quarter valued at about $86,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Buckle by 38.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Buckle by 85.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715 shares during the period. 53.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BKE. StockNews.com cut Buckle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Buckle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $31.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Insider Activity at Buckle

In related news, EVP Kari G. Smith sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.29, for a total transaction of $1,045,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 150,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,872,468.66. The trade was a 11.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John P. Peetz sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total transaction of $129,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,143,759.10. This represents a 10.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,812 shares of company stock worth $5,363,642 over the last ninety days. 39.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Buckle Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of Buckle stock opened at $49.64 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.72. The Buckle, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.87 and a 12-month high of $54.25. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.14.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.01). Buckle had a net margin of 16.21% and a return on equity of 44.11%. The company had revenue of $293.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $293.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. Buckle’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Buckle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $2.50 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Buckle’s payout ratio is presently 35.53%.

Buckle Company Profile

The Buckle, Inc operates as a retailer of casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for young men and women in the United States. It markets a selection of brand name casual apparel, including denims, other casual bottoms, tops, sportswear, outerwear, accessories, and footwear, as well as private label merchandise primarily comprising BKE, Buckle Black, Salvage, Red by BKE, Daytrip, Gimmicks, Gilded Intent, FITZ + EDDI, Willow & Root, Outpost Makers, Departwest, Sterling & Stitch, Reclaim, BKE Vintage, Nova Industries, J.B.