Hartford Investment Management Co. Reduces Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,599 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 1,971 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $6,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in NIKE by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,044,821 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $10,342,012,000 after purchasing an additional 501,792 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of NIKE by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,049,294 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $832,785,000 after buying an additional 571,544 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in NIKE by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 8,859,580 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $832,623,000 after acquiring an additional 2,775,510 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in NIKE by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,025,616 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $454,151,000 after acquiring an additional 52,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Longview Partners Guernsey LTD acquired a new position in NIKE in the first quarter valued at $533,533,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on NKE shares. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on NIKE from $88.00 to $79.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 52,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total transaction of $4,093,986.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,031,226 shares in the company, valued at $80,435,628. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NIKE Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NKE stock traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.54. 656,820 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,606,378. The stock has a market cap of $121.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.75 and a fifty-two week high of $123.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.14.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The footwear maker reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.18. NIKE had a return on equity of 39.84% and a net margin of 10.60%. The firm had revenue of $11.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.68%.

NIKE Profile

NIKE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and sells athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services worldwide. The company provides athletic and casual footwear, apparel, and accessories under the Jumpman trademark; and casual sneakers, apparel, and accessories under the Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, and Jack Purcell trademarks.