Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $708,000 in The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Buckle during the 3rd quarter worth about $308,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Buckle by 187.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 31,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 20,879 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Buckle during the 3rd quarter worth about $210,000. Oldfather Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Buckle by 77.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 46,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,555,000 after acquiring an additional 20,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Buckle by 36.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,714 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BKE. UBS Group lowered shares of Buckle from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $34.00 in a report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Buckle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th.

Buckle Trading Up 2.3 %

Buckle stock opened at $37.57 on Friday. The Buckle, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $48.15. The company has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.89.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 15th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $382.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $383.63 million. Buckle had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 50.88%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.76 EPS.

Buckle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Buckle’s dividend payout ratio is 31.75%.

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.