Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 426,358 Shares of The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE)

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,674,040 shares of the company’s stock after selling 426,358 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Buckle were worth $73,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKE. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Buckle by 52.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Buckle during the first quarter worth about $70,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in Buckle by 119.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Buckle in the 3rd quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Buckle by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKE has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Buckle from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Buckle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday.

Buckle Price Performance

BKE stock opened at $47.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.79. The Buckle, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.87 and a 1 year high of $49.78.

Buckle (NYSE:BKE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 23rd. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Buckle had a net margin of 16.69% and a return on equity of 46.17%. The firm had revenue of $282.39 million for the quarter.

Buckle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Buckle’s payout ratio is presently 34.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Buckle

In other Buckle news, SVP Brett P. Milkie sold 16,000 shares of Buckle stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.35, for a total transaction of $661,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 80,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,315,029.50. The trade was a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dennis H. Nelson sold 20,453 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.35, for a total value of $907,090.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,883,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,551,186.75. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 142,931 shares of company stock worth $6,080,458. 39.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Buckle 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.