The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) Announces $0.35 Quarterly Dividend

The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share on Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%.

Buckle has raised its dividend by an average of 1.5% per year over the last three years. Buckle has a payout ratio of 35.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Buckle Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of BKE stock opened at $39.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.76 and a 200-day moving average of $45.47. Buckle has a 1-year low of $34.67 and a 1-year high of $54.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 1.17.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 14th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.09. Buckle had a net margin of 16.21% and a return on equity of 44.11%. The firm had revenue of $379.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dennis H. Nelson sold 20,453 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.42, for a total transaction of $888,069.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,698,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,763,111.76. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,269 shares of company stock worth $3,952,882. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on BKE shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on Buckle from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. StockNews.com lowered Buckle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

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.