The Buckle, Inc. to Issue Special Dividend of $2.50 (NYSE:BKE)

The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) declared a special dividend on Tuesday, December 10th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of 2.50 per share on Wednesday, January 29th.

Buckle has raised its dividend by an average of 15.9% per year over the last three years. Buckle has a dividend payout ratio of 37.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Buckle Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE BKE opened at $52.45 on Wednesday. Buckle has a 12 month low of $34.87 and a 12 month high of $54.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.29 and a 200-day moving average of $42.14. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.14.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last issued its 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 the consensus estimate of $293.60 million. Buckle had a return on equity of 44.11% and a net margin of 16.21%. The business’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling at Buckle

In related news, Director Karen B. Rhoads sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.63, for a total transaction of $490,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 214,089 shares in the company, valued at $11,053,415.07. This represents a 4.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dennis H. Nelson sold 20,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.73, for a total value of $853,503.69. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,863,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,761,851.96. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,765 shares of company stock valued at $5,095,682 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 39.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.