Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,164 The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Buckle by 52.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 789 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Buckle by 60.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 938 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Buckle in the third quarter worth approximately $86,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Buckle by 72.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Buckle by 38.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. 53.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BKE shares. StockNews.com raised Buckle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised shares of Buckle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Buckle Price Performance

Shares of BKE opened at $44.07 on Tuesday. The Buckle, Inc. has a one year low of $34.87 and a one year high of $54.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.87 and a 200 day moving average of $45.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Buckle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $2.50 per share. This represents a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 15th. Buckle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Buckle news, EVP Kari G. Smith sold 20,000 shares of Buckle stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dennis H. Nelson sold 20,453 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.18, for a total transaction of $1,087,690.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,781,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,747,615.20. This trade represents a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,589 shares of company stock worth $4,869,767 over the last quarter. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Buckle

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.