Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires 3,711 Shares of The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in shares of The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) by 158.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,054 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,711 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Buckle were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in shares of Buckle in the first quarter valued at approximately $856,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Buckle by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,311,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,638,000 after purchasing an additional 24,051 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Buckle by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of Buckle by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 29,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Buckle during the first quarter valued at about $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded Buckle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Buckle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brett P. Milkie sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.35, for a total transaction of $661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 80,170 shares in the company, valued at $3,315,029.50. This trade represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dennis H. Nelson sold 24,666 shares of Buckle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.44, for a total transaction of $1,046,825.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,924,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,688,978.84. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 142,931 shares of company stock worth $6,080,458 over the last three months. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Buckle Stock Performance

NYSE:BKE opened at $48.89 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.17 and a 200-day moving average of $40.86. The Buckle, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.87 and a 52 week high of $49.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.14.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.01). Buckle had a return on equity of 46.17% and a net margin of 16.69%. The business had revenue of $293.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Buckle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. Buckle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.15%.

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.